Lehra Mohabbat plant records
over 100 per cent load factor

yogindra mohan
Patiala

MR Parihar, Chief Engineer, Lehra Mohabbat thermal plant, has said that all the four units of plant generated more than 100 per cent during last month. The plant achieved monthly station plant load factor (PLF) of 100.09 per cent. He said the plant had achieved a PLF of more than 100 per cent for 27th time since the inception. Moreover, the Stage-II units achieved highest ever generation of 126.96 lakh units on February 21 with load factor of 105.80 per cent. The coal based plants in the country achieved a double digit growth rate of 13.09 per cent during February over the last corresponding month and exceeded the generation target by 2.78 billion units. According to the Central Electricity Authority energy report, the growth rate of thermal generation was maximum of 22.64 per cent in the eastern region during the month. It was mainly due to improved generation of Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) coal based stations. The availability of coal for power sector continued to be critical input for thermal generation growth. The thermal power stations received about 34.8 million tonne of coal against the requirement of 39.1 million tonne during this month.

It was about 89 per cent of the total requirement of coal. The PLF of coal based thermal stations during February was 78.31 per cent in comparison to 80.94 per cent during February last year. The reduction in PLF of thermal generation was due to less generation by some newly stabilised units, increased generation loss due to coal supply problems, wet and poor coal quality, transmission evacuation problems, and less demand. Eight thermal plants in country generated less power due to coal related problems. These are Kahalgaon, Kolaghat, Kothagudem, Mejia, Muzaffarpur, Parli and Sagardighi. The generation loss reported so far due to coal supply shortages during April ’11 to February ’12 has also increased to 8.73 billion units.