Post-renovation, thermal plant’s life span will go up, says PSPCL
SP Sharma/TNS

Bathinda, August 23
With engineers of Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) mounting pressure on the Punjab Government, it might not be an easy task for Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal to meet his commitment of dismantling the ash-spewing thermal plant here that is currently being modernised with an investment of Rs 657.36 crore.

GS Chhabra, Director (Generation) PSPCL, who was in the town this afternoon, refused to comment on the issue, but said the modernisation of the plant was progressing fast. Units I and II had already been modernised and the emission levels of the two units had come within the permissible level.

Unit III was currently being modernised by BHEL and the work would be completed within three months. Thereafter, modernisation of Unit IV would be undertaken. The modernisation of Units III and IV was being done more comprehensively. This would increase the life span of the plant by 10 to 15 years. Mechanical precipitators had already been replaced with electrostatic precipitators to effectively arrest the flow of ash, Chhabra said. However, the old ash ponds for dumping ash slurry were continuing to function without the plastic lining, leaving space for contamination of the ground water.

Leaders of the engineers’ association Ashok Arora and Fatehpal Singh Malhi said there was no justification in shutting down the project on which more than Rs 650 crore had been spent.

Moreover, to bridge the deficit, the state government had last year purchased 2,495 million units of energy at a cost of Rs 1,430 crore from outside sources, they pointed out. The leaders said the plant was not a losing proposition for the government as its generation cost of each unit of electricity was Rs 3.20 whereas the government was purchasing power from outside sources at a cost of about Rs 6.29 per unit to meet the deficit.

State Of Affairs

Units I and II have already been modernised
Emission levels of the two units are now within the permissible limit
Unit III is being modernised by BHEL
Work on this unit will be completed within three months