The Hindu Business Line : Water level in Kerala hydel reservoirs up

The inflow has been so good that with the water level on Wednesday morning 1,586.5 million units (Mus) of electricity could be generated. The current daily inflow could generate 212 Mus and this trend is expected to continue for a couple of days more, a senior State Electricity Board official told Business Line.

The Board was anticipating an inflow enough to generate 1,289 Mus during the month but it has now crossed 1,585 Mus. However, the storage level on this day last year was enough to generate 1,900 Mus. The increase in inflow last year was due to early onset of the southwest monsoon, he said.

There has been significant rise in the water level in all the reservoirs in the State. The storage level in Idukki and Sabrigiri has gone up to 39.24 and 38.91 per cent of their capacity respectively.

If the current trend continues, water storage level in these hydel projects would go up to that of last year, enough to generate around 7,000 Mus, the official added.

The average daily demand of power at present is 33.94 Mus. To meet the demand on Tuesday, 16.9 Mus were generated by the hydroelectric projects while the rest was met by drawing from the central generating stations (CGS). The central share comes to 20 Mus. However, it is drawn depending upon the requirement, he said.

Kozhikode diesel power generating unit (KDPP) of the KSEB is run to meet the peak hour demand as the cost of power generation there is comparatively less because of the rebate available from the oil companies, he said. The Brahmapuram Diesel Power Plant near here is not operated these days, he added.

The KSEB, he said, would not have to draw power from the major thermal power stations of NTPC at Kayamkulam and the BSES this year also.

The official said that the storage in Kuttiyadi project had reached 85 per cent of its capacity while at Peringalkoothu it is 99 per cent. Neriyamangalam reservoir has started spilling over. The storage level in the major hydel projects, Idukki and Sabarigiri, would reach its peak level only by Oct/Nov after the north-east monsoon, he said. With the full capacity water level in Idukki 2,146 Mus could be generated while at Sabarigiri it would be 916 Mus, he said.

Unlike in the past, on May 20, the power demand in the State probably for the first time remained consistently at 41.11 Mus throughout the day, which, he said, was due to continuous use of air conditioners. Besides, the number of consumers had also gone up tangibly after five lakh connections were given last year.

The cost of thermal power has gone up substantially by about 16 per cent following high excise duty on naphtha. According to the official, the variable cost for generating one unit of power by the NTPC's Kayamkulam Thermal Power plant would now come to Rs 4.75. In addition, the State Government has to pay Rs 9 crore a month to NTPC towards fixed cost even if the State does not draw any power from the plant.

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