By IANS,
Shimla : Punjab and Haryana have started getting more electricity from Himachal Pradesh from Wednesday, say officials.
“Now, Punjab will get an additional 10 lakh units and Haryana four lakh units daily till the month-end,” said Suneel Grover, Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board’s director of generation.
Punjab was earlier getting 34 lakh units daily and Haryana 10 lakh units. “From Wednesday, Punjab will get 44 lakh units and Haryana 14 lakh units. Delhi is already getting 20 lakh units daily,” Grover said.
The hydroelectric power in the hill state increases in summer as glaciers and lakes that had frozen in the winter months start thawing and rains increases the water level in rivers.
Grover said the 20 run-of-river projects operated by the board currently generate 82 lakh units daily. The board is also getting 186 lakh units daily as free power from 13 major hydropower projects that are being run either by the central government, private players or are joint ventures.
“The board is having 268 lakh units daily, out of which surplus 78 lakh units are supplied to Punjab, Haryana and Delhi,” the official added.
The board supplies power to Punjab, Haryana and Delhi on “banking” arrangements under which it receives electricity from these states during winter when its generation dips by 75 to 80 percent, and returns the power in summer when its own generation peaks.
V.K. Verma, deputy general manager of power utility Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam, which owns the Nathpa-Jhakri project, said generation at the plant has increased to 38 million units per day last week against the generation capacity of 36 million units.
“From June 22 to June 27, the generation was optimum. It produced between 37 and 38 million units daily, which was a record generation,” he said.
Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh buy power from the 1,500 MW Nathpa-Jhakri project.
Himachal Pradesh’s hydropower potential is 20,416 MW – about 25 percent of India’s total potential – out of which only 6,419 MW is being harnessed. Of this, 1,738 MW is generated by 15 projects run by the private sector.