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Delhi, reeling under high temperatures and an acute electricity shortage, will get additional gas supplies from the National Thermal Power Corporation and Dabhol to increase power generation and help meet demand in the national capital.
While the power ministry has assured fuel supply from the NTPC to generate power to the tune of 400 MW, the government has decided to divert natural gas from the Dabhol power plant in Maharashtra to stations in the capital to help produce an additional 218 MW of electricity.
Power Minister Piyush Goyal also promised that the Bawana-Rohini power transmission line, which was damaged by the storm in the capital and adjoining states on May 30, will be restored by night on Tuesday. "Hopefully, we will be able to meet the peak demand of today (Tuesday)," he added. All other transmission lines will be repaired in the next 15 days, he said.
Delhi's current requirement of power is 5,800 MW against which availability is 5,300 MW, Goyal said.
State-owned NTPC has agreed to release gas to the Bawana project in Delhi, Goyal told reporters here after a two-hour meeting with Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung.
"The total generation capacity of the Bawana gas-based plant is 1,500 MW but at present 290 MW is being generated. The NTPC has consented to release gas as much as required by the plant to generate more power," Goyal said.
The state gas utility GAIL India Ltd has proposed to divert 0.9 million standard cubic meters a day of domestic gas from the now-shut Dabhol power plant to units in Delhi, a top oil ministry official said.
Goyal said getting power from outside Delhi to supplement electricity generation cannot be done due to inadequate transmission lines.
Delhi can absorb only 400 MW, he said, adding that if a better transmission network had been built over the past 10 years, fuel could have been provided for producing an additional 1,100 MW.
Three transmission towers will be restored by Power Grid Corporation of India, the central transmission utility, in the next seven days, which will benefit the east Delhi areas.
"BSES and Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd, the two discoms in Delhi, have been instructed to become more responsive to power complaints," Goyal said, adding that all their offices will work 24x7 till the power crisis ends.
The discoms will provide a three-day schedule of planned outages and issue a daily bulletin of the electricity situation in the capital.
The national capital is battling a power crisis amid acute temperatures. The maximum is expected to climb to about 46 degrees Celsius today, according to the metrological department.
On Monday, the maximum was 45.5 degrees Celsius, the highest level in the month of June in 10 years.
Image: Delhi is facing two to six hours of power cuts after transmission lines were damaged in a recent dust storm. Photograph: Reuters