Old power units trip city supply

KOLKATA: The dark days of the ‘70s are back. Suffering frequent and prolonged power cuts are once again part of the daily grind. Worse, the situation is unlikely to improve till the next month, power department sources say.
Over the past 10 days, the drop in generation in the state’s power units had caused the West Bengal State Electricity Board to restrict supply to city power utility CESC on four occasions.CESC’s generation, however, has remained normal during this period.
Two units of the Kolaghat thermal power plant, along with three units at Bandel and one each at Santhaldih and Bakreswar, are not in operation. While the units at Kolaghat are expected to be back in operation in a couple of days, one unit at Bandel and Bakreswar each are not expected to be functional before the end of the month.
West Bengal Power Development Corporation officials blamed the low quality of coal for the frequent breakdown in the generation units. “The power stations were designed to handle coal with ash content of 20 to 25 per cent. But the coal we use generally has 40 to 45 per cent ash,� WBPDCL executive director S. Mahapatra told TNN.
Added to this is the adverse ratio in peak to off-peak demand of power. “Generation units are designed to generate power at a constant level. But low off-peak demand and high peak demand pose problems for the health of the units,� Mahapatra said.
Old age and lack of planning are plaguing the state’s power units. At Bandel, the state’s oldest thermal power station, there is little hope of revival for a 80 MW unit as it was wholly imported from the USA. Spares are no longer available. The 38-year-old unit is performing far below capacity. None of the operational units can generate more than 60 MW on an average. Even the 210 MW unit, the mainstay of the plant, is not generating beyond 160 MW.