Hyderabad: Faced with a shortage of about 20 to 40 million units of power per day and with no scope for purchasing it from other sources, the Andhra Pradesh government now wants to use naphtha instead of gas for generating extra electricity to meet the growing demand.

The main worry for the government is to ensure seven hour power supply to the agriculture sector in the Rabi season so that the agricultural operations are not affected.

Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy held a high-level review meeting on the power situation here today. At the meet, he directed the Power Generation Corporation of AP Limited officials to tie-up with naphtha producers for firm supplies to the generating stations till May next and phase out the deliveries as per requirement.

He wanted the power plants that have multi-fuel option to use naphtha and divert gas to the facilities which cannot run without it.

This will result in total availability of 177.63 million units of power. Independent power producers like Lanco, GVK, Spectrum and Reliance can operate their plants with naphtha while new ones like GVK Extension and Vemagiri can use gas diverted fro m other units. This, however, requires the consent of the Central Government.

The Chief Minister told the AP Genco not to depend solely on Reliance for gas supplies and search for alternative fuels to keep the power plants running.

Source : PTI