DW BUREAU / PATIALA: There was a sudden disruption in power supply on June 30 and July 1 in the state due to sudden failure of the second unit of Talwandi Sabo Power plant, Ropar thermal plant and low level of power generation from Bhakra Hydro project. PSPCL CMD A. Venu Prasad disclosed that the Punjab State Power Corporation (PSPCL) has now issued a penalty notice to Talwandi Sabo Thermal Power Plant for not ensuring timely availability of its unit no. 3. He said that the PSPCL has been repeatedly directing the TSPL to ensure full availability of its 3 units in the paddy season including unit no. 3 under forced outage which the TSPL has failed to do till date whereas paddy season is in full swing. He also said that due to failure of unit no. 3, the PSPCL faced tremendous difficulty in providing 8 hours of uninterrupted power supply to its agriculture and domestic consumers of the state. He said that the PSPCL has directed TSPL to make all out efforts to make unit no. 3 available at the earliest. The PSPCL has issued the notice to TSPL asking them to explain as to why the capacity charges should not be deducted for the entire contract year 2021-22 considering non-availability of its unit under breakdown and be penalized on account of hardship faced by the people of Punjab. He further said that the PSPCL in spite of this mechanical fault had managed to supply 8 hours of power to the agriculture sector during the last three days. No power cuts have been imposed on the domestic sector. This was made possible by getting the limit of transmission corridor increased from Northern Regional Load Despatch Centre (NRLDC) due to failure of one unit of TSPL and getting increased power purchase (to the extent allowed-7400MW) from power exchange to the maximum limit and several administrative measures. (editor@dailyworld.in)