PUNJAB NEWSLINE
Poor performance of Yamuna Nagar thermal draws flak
VINOD KUMAR GUPTA
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
CHANDIGARH: The poor performance and frequent breakdowns of Yamuna Nagar thermal plant has been criticized by the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) in its tariff order for 2010-11.

Besides low generation HERC has come down heavily on HPGCL for higher auxiliary power consumption, higher specific oil consumption The auxiliary consumption of units I and II at 9.34 per cent and 9.32 per cent, respectively, is on the higher side and specific oil consumption at 6.81 ml per unit and 5.74 ml per unit is alarmingly high.

HERC order mentions that units I and II, commissioned in 2007-08, achieved very low plant load factor (PLF) of 68.66 and 69.53 per cent, respectively, during 2008-09. The PLF improved to 82 per cent in first three quarters of 2009-10.Final PLF is around 81 percent.

However, it is still lower than the PLF of 85 per cent at which the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission calculates generation tariff for new plants .HERC has now fixed PLF for the thermal plant at 80 percent for the current financial year.

The commission has pegged down the auxiliary consumption at 9 percent and specific oil consumption at 1ml per unit while working out tariff for the year 2010-11.HERC tariff order for Generating units of Yamuna Nagar Thermal has been fixed at Rs. 3.13 per unit against Rs.3.32 demanded by HPGCL.

The commission has sought report from HPGCL within two months regarding delay in final taking over the units and the steps being taken up to bring the performance of units to the contracted standards .Reliance infrastructure is the EPC contractor for the Yamuna Nagar Thermal Plant.

HERC has desired that HPGCL should also focus on HRD as a large number of technical persons retire every year and a process should be set up to recruit and train new technical persons on regular basis to meet future requirements.