Low gas supply hits power generation

vadodara: various sections of the society, including the trading and business community, industries'' associations, their forums and power experts, are of the opinion that a committed supply of natural gas to gas-based thermal power stations in the state can help in tiding over the present crisis. in support of their arguments, they said that the average generation of power from these gas-based power stations is 600 mw as against their total installed capacity of 2,035 mw.and if this commitment is fully met, it can help in tiding over the power crisis even during summer. but this, they said, requires strong political backing. this suggestion was also made before union petroleum and natural gas minister ram naik some time back. the non-allocation of the committed supply of gas to the gas-based power stations in the state has worsened the power situation. the worst hit is the farming community. summer crops of most farmers are withering due to the inadequate supply of power as they are unable to irrigate their fields. the gujarat electricity board (geb) incurs a heavy financial loss as it buys power from independent power producers (ipps) and other sources at high rates for meeting the power demand of the farm sector. gas-based thermal power stations in vadodara, jhanor, kawas, pagothan, ahmedabad, dhuvaran and utran are not in a position to generate power as per their fully-installed capacity due to the non-allocation of gas assured to them.