Water shortage may shut Adani’s Tiroda plant later this month

Nagpur: The rural areas of the state may have to suffer power cuts towards the fag end of summer as the Tiroda power plant of Adani Power is set to close down in a few days due to water shortage. In spite of knowing the requirement of this plant, the state government did not ask Madhya Pradesh government to release adequate quantity of water. Two out of five units of the plant have already shut down due to water shortage
A source in MSEDCL said the company had written to the energy secretary for release of 12 million cubic metre (mmc) water from Rajiv Sagar dam in Balaghat district of MP.“However, after talks with their MP counterparts, the state officials asked them to release only 8 mmc. This is not sufficient for even three operational units of the plant for the entire summer,” he said.
The source further said that due to the dry bed of Bawanthadi river and high ambient temperatures, only 50% water from Rajiv Sagar would reach Dhapewada dam, the feeder reservoir of Tiroda plant. “Of this 4 mmc, about 1.672 mmc is needed for meeting drinking water needs of Gondia. Another 0.05 mmc is needed for meeting Tiroda town’s need. There is standing crop on 1,500 hectares, which is dependent on Dhapewada water and this will require another 1.54 mmc. The government is unlikely to ditch the farmers for power generation and hence very little water will be left for the plant,” he added.
A source in Adani power said the three functional units of the plant needed 0.12 mmc per day. “We have some 0.8 mmc left in our reservoir. Dhapewada dam at present has 1.5 mmc but it is of no use to us because this is the minimum requirement for operating the lift irrigation scheme (LIS). Thus we have water only for six to seven days. The additional water from Rajiv Sagar will last another week. This means the plant will be out of water in two weeks,” he said.
Even if early rains or power purchase from market prevents power cuts, MSEDCL will have to unnecessarily pay capacity charges to Adani Power. This amount which may be around Rs 150 crore, will be recovered from power consumers.