The Hindu Business Line : KSEB resorts to load shedding

Kochi, Jan. 2 The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has resorted to half-an- hour cyclical power shedding during the evening peak hours from Wednesday following shutting down of its hydel project at Neriyamangalam for additional extension work.

However, senior official sources told Business Line that the power shedding would be for only 15 days, till the plant resumed power generation on completion of the valve insertion work. The capacity of the plant is being expanded by 25 MW to 300 MW. The additional unit is scheduled to become operational by March, they said.

Add to this there has been a drop in the supply of power from the Central grid by 50 MW to 916 MW now.

The daily energy demand at present is 2,800 MW during the peak hours and to meet this demand the board has resorted to purchase power from both the NTPC’s Kayamkulam and BSES thermal plants. About 5.5 million units are drawn daily from these plants at Rs7.80 per unit, they said.

During summer from March, the daily demand would go up to 3,000 MW i.e., 46 million units per day.

Water storage

The water storage level in the reservoirs of the hydel projects is comfortable with an average 77.6 per cent of their capacity. With this 21 million units per day could be generated daily till June 1. Besides, there is a reserve to generate 500 million units in case there is a delay in the onset of monsoon. Maximum delay so far experienced in the arrival of monsoon is 18 days and as against this “we will have enough water storage to cover one month”, they said.

During the peak hours, the board has to depend on costly thermal power, they said.

The thermal plants are operating on naphtha and its cost has shot up to Rs 43,400 a tonne including taxes. When the Kayamkulam plant was set up it was available at Rs 5,700 a tonne, they said. Withdrawal of duty exemption by the government for naphtha for the power generating plants, the cost has gone up substantially. Had the exemption not been withdrawn the cost of power would have been less by around Rs1.80 a unit, they said.

What has made the situation worse is the non-availability of the State’s share of 1,200 MW from the Central grid in full. The decision to take out 15 per cent of this as unallocated portion for diverting to other States where the situation is comparatively much grave is, in fact, depriving the State of around 160 MW daily. It was thought to be a temporary phenomenon but now it appears to have become a perpetual affair, they said.

“This has reduced our entitlement to 1,040 MW and during the monsoon months it used to be 900 MW, as the power plants are under maintenance in this period. However, during summer we would be able to draw about 1,000 MW,” they said.

Enhancement of capacity

According to them, opposition to enhancement of power generating capacity by setting up units, such as the Athirapally project within the State, and to bring in power from the Koodankulam thermal plant in Tamil Nadu would result in serious power shortage here in the future.

Once the Koodamkulam plant is commissioned, the State could draw 7 million units of power daily if the feeder lines came into existence in time.

Though the price per unit has yet to be worked out based on the total cost of the plant, it is expected to come to around Rs 2.50-3 a unit. Still, it is cheaper than that of the board’s diesel power generating units, they said.