The Hindu Business Line : Load shedding unlikely in Kerala this summer

Good supply
With the current water storage level, 2,365 mu can be generated, which can cover for about four months.
There is good inflow to the reservoirs, probably due to 7% excess rainfall in catchment areas.

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Kochi Feb. 22 Even though there hasn't been any rains lately in the catchment areas, the reservoirs of the hydroelectric projects in Kerala have sufficient water to cover the period till the onset of the southwest monsoon expected in June. Hence, there won't be any need to resort to load shedding this summer, Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) sources have said.

On the other hand, the power supply from the Central grid would have no problem as the maintenance of the generating plants has been completed. Therefore, unless there is some breakdown "we expect the supply to remain uninterrupted", they told Business Line.

However, there was some interruption in the supply recently forcing the Board to resort to load shedding in the Kothamangalam area for a couple of days, but "we don't foresee such a situation again", they added.

The sources said that the daily demand has gone up to 42 million units and it might reach 45 million units (mu) during peak summer. The hydel projects generate 19.7 mu daily, while 23.77 mu are drawn from the central grid and the balance requirement is met by operating the Board's diesel power generating plants. Even now, to meet the peak hour demand, the KSEB operates its diesel power plants at Brahmapuram near here (100MW) and Kozhikode (80-90 MW).

Demand is high during March, which continues till April 15, "i.e., the SSLC examination period". From mid-April onwards, the demand drops and from then onthere is no increase, they said.

With the current water storage level, 2,365 mu could be generated and that could cover about four months. Besides, there is good inflow to the reservoirs even now through the streams probably because of the 7 per cent excess rainfall in the catchment areas last year and this normal flow is expected to continue, the sources added.

Problems likely

They said that the current peak demand is some where between 2,600 to 2,650 MW and of this 1,550 MW is generated by the hydroelectric projects. The State's share from the central grid is 1,200 MW.

Given this situation, the State could go without high cost thermal power from the NTPC's Kayamkulam plant and the BSES plant at Eloor.

However, there could be problems during the peak summer due to external factors such as poor frequency from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. If this happens, the KSEB would be compelled to draw power from Kayamkulam and BSES thermal plants pushing the power purchase cost significantly.

Water levels low

If the full share of the State from the central grid is made available, then the state would not draw the high cost power (around Rs 6 a unit) from these thermal plants, the sources said.

Currently, the power generated by the 360-MW NTPC Kayamkulam plant is shared equally by Tamil Nadu and Delhi. Tamil Nadu pays 100 per cent of the fixed cost to the NTPC directly while Delhi pays 50 per cent of it to KSEB.

According to the Central Water Commission, the water levels in the major reservoirs of the State have decreased. As on February 19, the water level in the Idukki dropped from 2,365.25 feet (ft) to 2,362.78 ft, while at Idamalayar from 511.32 ft to 505.72 ft and at Kallada from 359.42 ft to 356.04 ft.

When compared with the water levels recorded during the same period last year, Kallada reservoir showed a decrease of 12.89 ft, Idukki 8.42 ft and Idamalayar 2.75 ft.

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