By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net,
Bhopal: The strategy chalked out during the last four and a half years to steer Madhya Pradesh clear of power crisis has set a precedent.
It is due to constant efforts undertaken by the state government that the plant load factor has risen by 1.98 per cent. During the previous five years Plant Load Factor, (PLF), stood at 67.96 which has now mounted to 69.94 per cent. It is being regarded as one of the state government’s major achievements.
The PLF is the parameter of measuring power generation quality at economical cost. The present state government had included power in its top priorities which resulted into increase in power generation by 2937 megawatts during four and half years.
It may be mentioned that power generation capacity stood at 2991 megawatts in January 2004 which has risen to 5928 megawatts in June 2008.
It was a difficult proposition to meet the challenge of increasing power generation and maintaining plant load factor simultaneously. The achievement becomes more important since it has been made by using machinery which is 30 to 40 years old. The machines of 1142.50 megawatt Satpura thermal power station are 25 to 40 years old. The same is the condition of Amarkantak thermal power plant where 30 to 40 years old machines are in operation. Remarkably, power generation has been increased despite meager resources by using these outdated machines intelligently and by their effective maintenance and upkeep. As a result PLF which was 68 percent earlier has risen to 70 per cent.
Importantly, with this achievement Madhya Pradesh has touched national level of PLF. The state has achieved this success by operating these ageing machines deftly in difficult times. ([email protected])