JAMMU: The Administrative Council (AC), chaired by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, met here and approved the purchase of 500 MW of firm power from the Ministry of Power (MOP) in order to meet the UT’s Base Load power requirement. Attending the meeting were Dr. Mandeep Kumar Bhandari, the Lieutenant Governor’s principal secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, the chief secretary, and advisor Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar. The AC approves the allocation of an extra 500 MW of firm power from MOP in B(v) mode (purchasing handled by PFC) in order to meet the base load power requirement, which is essentially necessary to meet the demand during the winter.Because of the large amount of hydropower in the UT, the availability decreases in the winter. AC approved the signing of a new Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) between J&K Power Corporation Limited (JKPCL) and NTPC regarding Singrauli-III, which is operated by NTPC, in order to close the gap between demand and availability of power during the winter months. This will lessen J&K’s energy demand, which is rising at a 10% CAGR. As a thermal power station that is required to run, Singrauli-II provides power to J&K during the winter months when the hydro generators of ISGS generate only 150–300 MW, or 70–90% of the summertime generation. Therefore, in order to help the UT get over its power shortage during the hard winter, it will sign a new Power Purchase Agreement of JKPCL with NTPC regarding Singrauli-III. This will increase its availability.
