India's coal-fired Parli thermal power plant shuts down

Blame it on the dry spell plaguing the area.

Widespread dry spell and rainfall deficiency pushed a coal-fired power plant in Maharashtra, India to stop its operations and consequently halt the commissioning of a new unit.

According to reports, the 1130 MW power plant in Beed was about to commission a 250 MW unit by March next year. However, the lack of water made the plant's operator Maharashtra State Power Generation Company (MahaGenco) decide to postpone the commissioning of the unit come the next monsoon season.

MahaGenco officials assured the public that power cuts are not a possibility at present as the commissioning of 2,980MW units have been in place and will come online soon.

They are eyeing sewage water from neighboring cities as the temporary source for their thermal power plants.

Maharashtra's government, on the other hand, warned the locals to brace themselves for acute water shortages and expect the impacts of rainfall insufficiency.