No contingency plans made by Andhra Pradesh Government

Vijayawada: Public sector power engineers have warned of the depleting inventory of domestic thermal power plants and the impending energy crisis in Andhra Pradesh along with 11 other states in the country in the second week of April itself.

This warning against the lack of sufficient coal inventory was well-known to all states, including Andhra Pradesh and it should have anticipated Tuesday's coal crisis.

Sailendra Dubey, chairman of All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF), was specific in his warning: "The coal crisis is being witnessed in 12 states once again since October 2021".

The AIPEF too attributed the crisis to lack of answerability amongst these ministries. The Centre keeps blaming the state's inability to make timely payments to coal companies. That the thermal plants in AP had coal stock at critical levels was disclosed by the AIPEF spokesperson V K Gupta on April 27. The basis for the claim was a report of the Central Electricity Authority that monitors 173 thermal plants across the country which said 106 thermal plants had coal stock at critical levels.

In Andhra Pradesh, like in West Bengal, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, all state sector thermal plants have been having critical coal stock, the experts had warned.

Domestic power demand has peaked in the first half of April itself in the state. Yet, there was complacency. According to these national bodies, power cut is in the range of 3 to 8.7 per cent in AP alongside four more states.

No doubt, AP has requested the Centre for adequate coal supply. But a sustained pursuit was obviously lacking. The minister for power Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy claimed that on April 29, Vijayawada Thermal Power Station (VTPS) had only 1.28 days stock while the Rayalaseema Thermal Power Plant (RTPP) had 1.37 days stock. The Krishnapatnam plant had 7.52 days stock and the Hinduja, 1.93 days stock.

According to the energy secretary, B Sreedhar, APPDCL had called tenders for one lakh tonne (for increasing the generation at KTPP (for both 800 MW units).

Meanwhile, the minister banks on the improved wind power generation in the state from mid-May.

There could be several ills dogging this issue, however, lack of adequate attention and related planning are the major culprits in the AP crisis.