Patiala: A blistering heatwave and the ongoing paddy sowing season pushed Punjab’s power infrastructure to its limit, with residents and industries across the state reeling under severe, unscheduled power outages.Power experts revealed that while the officially logged demand hovered around the 17,000 MW mark, the actual unrestricted demand breached 18,000 MW. The state utility heavily curtailed power supply to prevent a total grid collapse, triggering widespread blackouts across domestic and industrial sectors.On Tuesday, June 30, the maximum demand recorded was 17,085 MW, close to Monday’s peak of 17,147 MW. The peak demand on June 29 of last year was 15,465 MW. Consumption on Sunday stood at 16,708 MW.To keep the state running, the power utility resorted to overdrawing electricity from the Northern Grid. Over the past two days, the utility exceeded its Available Transfer Capability (ATC) import limit, which stands 10,700 MW, by over 300 MW. On the domestic generation front, state-owned thermal plants and independent power producers ran almost at full capacity, collectively producing around 5,800 MW. This included 3,050 MW from IPPs, 1,580 MW from state-owned thermal units, and 994 MW from hydro generation.Despite adequate coal stocks in power plants, demand forced massive load shedding. Public notices issued by the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited highlighted severe 11KV outages across major towns and industrial belts.In Patiala, urban pockets such as Yadwindra Colony faced morning disruptions lasting over an hour and a half. In Gurdaspur, areas including Bathwala and Kalanangal saw power cuts lasting nearly six-and-a-half hours. The worst-hit domestic pocket was Jamalpura on Khanna Road in Malerkotla, which suffered a 9-hour blackout.“We have been facing blackouts for long many hours. The govt has failed to provide us electricity despite the urban consumers are paying the hefty bills”, said a Patiala resident Gurinder Singh.Punnerdeep Singh, PSPCL director generation, said, “Following sudden increase in the power demand, sometimes we have to impose the power cuts although for short durations. In the industrial sector, power cuts were imposed only during night when solar power becomes unavailable. However, we are giving preference to Agriculture Pumpsets (AP) consumers and supplying uninterrupted power supply to them. The overdrawl of around 300 MW was made from the grid to meet the demand”.The manufacturing sector also remained affected. Jalandhar’s industrial hubs, including Gadaipur, Salempur, and the DIC Focal Point areas, faced consistent four-hour power cuts during peak daylight working hours. Night shifts at Jalandhar’s Leather Complex and Sports and Surgical clusters were disrupted by midnight outages lasting over two hours. Premium residential zones also reported outages. Key sectors in Mohali, including Sector 71, Sector 60-C, and Aerocity, reported significant morning disruptions.With weather departments predicting no immediate relief from the heatwave, the gap between Punjab’s 18,000 MW actual demand and its 17,000 MW supply cap was expected to keep pressure high on the grid and consumers. MSID: 132092770 413 |
