The state government is selling 300-400 MWs generated from its hydel power sources to other states of India even as Kashmir is facing severe power crisis. The government is paying a heavy price for importing power from utilities outside the state.
State Power Development Corporation (SPDC) exports 300-400 MWs even as Power Development Department (PDD) is struggling to meet the demand and has resorted to frequent power cuts in the valley, much to the inconvenience of people.Against the demand of 1,600 MW of electricity in Kashmir, PDD only supplies 1200 MW of electricity.
The government is importing power from other utilities including heavily priced thermal power and pays “transmission charges’’ to the Central government.
Moreover, officials said, even when the power is locally available, the state government is selling power from hydroelectric projects of PDC through Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Power Trading Corporation (PTC) to other states of India.
For utilization of the transmission network for both import and export, the power grid is charging heavy fee from the state government, officials said.
According to officials, even the allocation that they are expected to get from the power sources outside the state is not provided to the state due to fall in production from generating units to which they have to resort to frequent cuts. “We receive distress calls from the State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC) and the Northern Region Load Dispatch Centre (NRLDC) due to which we fail to draw power to meet the demand. Our main consumption is due to the domestic use, while 40-50 MWs is being utilized by hospitals here. But we are unable to meet the demand,” said an official of the PDD.
However, Senior General Manager, PDC, M A Chaudhary, said the decision over the export of power is being taken by the government. He, however, said the PDC has to secure interest of financial institutions which have invested in the power projects while taking a decision over the sale of electricity from the different hydel sources within and outside the state.
