Panjab Power Utility Clocks $68M Profit, State to Tap Solar Energy

Riding on the coal mined from its own mine in Jharkhand to fuel the thermal plants in Panjab, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has reported a profit of $68M in the quarter ending Sept 2023. This is in stark contrast against a loss of $226M during the corresponding period a year earlier. Power utility’s chairman-cum-manager Baldev Singh Sra attributed the profit to savings made by using the mine’s own fuel for the two state-owned coal-fired power plants — Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant at Lehra Mohabbat in Bathinda and Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Power Plant in Rupnagar. The Pachhwara mine — for which successive Panjab governments fought a legal battle for seven years — has already produced 3.3MT of coal. Now the PSPCL has signed its 9^th Public Private Agreement to buy 300 MW from Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) for an economical ₹2.72/unit. Overall, for two years PSPCL intends to buy 2,800 MW of solar power at an average cost of ₹2.51/unit from SECI. This is a step towards PSPCL meeting its target of procuring 6,000 MW of solar power. The PSPCL has floated tenders for another 2,500 MW of power and these will be opened in two months. This includes a 1,000 MW solar power plant in Panjab. Meanwhile, PSPCL sacked Assistant Junior Engineer Gurdeep Singh two days before retirement for siphoning off funds through fraud and theft and ordered a recovery of $507,000. The AJE blatantly bypassed the regulations of the National Green Tribunal and issued illegal tubewell connections in Bhadaur and other different subdivisions. (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 2, Story 3).