Lehra Mohabbat plant gives record output
Ravi Dhaliwal

Lehra Mohabbat (Bathinda), October 6
With certain power plants in the state experiencing generation blues, the Lehra Mohabbat 920 MW coal-based power plant is riding high on cloud nine as all three of its operational units have generated a record output 44,219 lakh units of power this year.

The fourth unit has not been commissioned and will become operational once Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) hands it over to the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB).

Engineers at the power plant, located 24 km from Bathinda on the Bathinda Sangrur highway, have reasons to smile as this year’s figure is much higher than last year. Another feather in the cap of the power plant is that, till yet, the plant has achieved a plant-load factor (PLF) of 94.89 per cent. PLF is a measure of average capacity utilisation and is based on certain factors like maintenance shut down, non-availability of fuel and unplanned breakdowns. Factors like operating availability factor (OAF) and PLF are normally taken as main indices for the purpose of overall performance analysis of coal based plants and the plant tops in both of them. Engineers are naturally elated as the PLF achieved by the plant is much higher than the national average. This figure is also higher than the PLF achieved by the Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant at Ropar and the Guru Nanak Dev Thermal plant here in recent years. Another vital statistic pointed out by engineers is the high level of economic efficiency and operational efficiency achieved by the plant.

Economic efficiency is the ratio between production costs, including labour, coal fuel, services and overall energy output recorded by the plant over a period of time.

Senior Engineers also speak highly about the high level of operational efficiency achieved by the plant. Operational efficiency is the ratio of total electricity produced by the plant during a period of time compared to the total potential electricity that could have been produced if the plant operated at 100 per cent in that period.