Demand soared, Delhi powerless

NEW DELHI: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has slammed the Delhi government for poor power generation in the capital, pointing out that the installed capacity actually declined between 2005 and 2010 even as demand surged.



Delhi had an installed generation capacity of 994.5 MW against the peak demand of 3,558 MW at the beginning of 2005-06. At the end of 2009-10, the installed capacity had dropped to 735 MW against the peak demand of 4,464 MW, leaving a deficit of 3,729 MW.In effect, power demand rose 25.46% in this period, even as installed capacity dropped by 26.09% due to the closure of the IP power station in December 2009.
The CAG report points out that generation companies could not keep pace with growing power demand in the state. The highly publicized capacity addition of 1,500 MW envisaged by November 2010 could not come up due to delay in execution of the mega power plant at Bawana which is behind schedule by eight months. On top of this, operational performance of power stations of Indraprastha Power Generation Company Ltd (IPGCL) was affected due to low plant availability, poor capacity utilization, excessive forced outages and delays in repair and maintenance.
Contradicting the government's claims that there was no power shortage in Delhi, the CAG report also assessed that the shortfall has actually increased from 2005-06 to 2009-10.
"The power requirement of Delhi during 2005-06 was assessed at 31816.32 million units (mu) during the year of which only 31536 mu was met leaving a shortfall of 280.32 mus. This works out to be 0.88% of the requirement. In 2009-10, against a requirement of 39104.64 mu, only 38614 mu was met, thereby leaving a shortfall of 490.56 mu,'' reads the report.
The CAG report finds that the failure of the government to keep pace with the city's growing power demand had increased Delhi's dependence on sourcing power from other states.
"As on March 31, 2010, the maximum demand and available capacity in Delhi was 4464 MW and 735 MW with a deficit of 3,729 MW. Back in 2005-06, the installed capacity for Delhi was 994.5 MW against maximum demand of 3,558 MW and the deficit was 2,563 MW. Thus, though the demand increased by 906 MW (25.46%), there was no capacity addition during the period of five years. In fact, Delhi's capacity of power generation had reduced by 259.5 MW due to closure of Indraprastha power station with capacity of 247.5 MW in December 2009 and reduction in rating of steam turbine units of gas turbine power station (GTPS) by 12 MW. With the result, the percentage of own generation to maximum demand has reduced from 17.62% in 2005-06 to 12.90% in 2009-10,'' says the CAG report.
The CAG report has charged the government with excess consumption of fuel for two power stations.
"Our scrutiny revealed that GTPS and Rajghat power house consumed excess gas and coal respectively than norms prescribed by DERC, to the tune of Rs 107.67 crores. This excess consumption of fuel is attributed to low plant factor and operational deficiencies like low vacuum, high exhaust temperature, frequent jerks and steam leakage,'' says the report.
While GTPS attributed non-availability of gas and technical reasons for high frequency as reasons for running the machinery on partial load which resulted in excess consumption, the management of Rajghat power house attributed excess consumption of heat/coal to the fact that Rajghat is an old plant.
The CAG also pointed out that DERC had clearly stated that poor performance of plants due to technical problems or gas restrictions was to be mitigated by the company and not passed on to the consumers.