Punjab is grappling with a surge in power demand and reduced electricity generation as the paddy season reaches its peak, putting immense pressure on the state's power sector and groundwater resources.
Delayed rainfall has forced farmers to depend on tubewells for irrigation, driving up electricity consumption. Farmers require approximately eight hours of daily power supply to operate tubewells and irrigate paddy fields.
Generation Shortfall and Grid Dependency
Punjab's own thermal power generation has plummeted to about 600 MW, while private generators contribute around 3,000 MW. The state is also drawing 10,560 MW from the Northern Grid to meet demand. Despite lower industrial consumption due to the weekly holiday, the peak load reached 15,560 MW.
Officials attribute the increased demand to the delay in monsoon rains, which has heightened reliance on groundwater extraction. The extensive use of tubewells continues to strain groundwater reserves. With an average eight-hour power supply, each tubewell extracts about 30.24 lakh litres of water weekly. Collectively, nearly 14 lakh tubewells in Punjab draw approximately 4,385 billion litres of groundwater every week during the paddy season.
Districts with Highest Tubewell Density
Ludhiana leads with 1.17 lakh tubewells, followed by Gurdaspur (99,581), Amritsar (93,946), and Sangrur (93,669). These districts have also experienced some of the sharpest declines in groundwater levels over the years.
Thermal Plant Outages
Power generation has been further hampered by outages at thermal plants. All four units at Lehra Mohabbat are among six state-sector thermal units currently shut. In contrast, all four units of the Ranjit Sagar project are operational, generating 565 MW.
A PSPCL official stated that power supply is being maintained with minimal disruptions and that some of the shut units are expected to resume operations within the next 24 hours.
