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Rahul Wadke

Mumbai, June 21 Power supply in Maharashtra has improved and it is expected to get even get better with the additional 500 MW being supplied from Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd, Dabhol, by September, said Dr A.B. Pandey, Managing Director of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd.

Since restarting operations in May 2006, the plant has never reached its full capacity of 2,150 MW due to inadequate supply of natural gas and technical problems with its turbines.

In the last two years, the plant has only been able to scale its power from 100 MW to 900 MW. It sells power to the State utility at Rs 3.10 a unit.

Dr Pandey said feeder separation program and intense anti-theft drives have yielded results.

It led to reduced load shedding, especially during summer months.

Out of 30,000 villages in the State, 16,000 are covered under feeder separation program.

In many areas, load shedding hours has reduced by 50 per cent due to better load management, he said.

Under the village feeder separation program, power is supplied through separate feeders to agriculture pumps and for domestic supply.

The programme helps manage consumption by shifting the agriculture load to non-peak hours.

Additional 500 MW from Paras and Parli thermal power plant and adherence to grid discipline by northern States has also reduced blackouts and load shedding.

According to figures available with the utility, the power demand in May had reached its peak at 14,192 MW and a shortfall of 3,895 MW, while the average power demand in May 2007 was 14,819 MW with a shortfall of 4,642 MW. Due to better demand side management, shortfall has been reduced by 747 MW.

However, with the power demand increasing on an average by 10 per cent, the current gains could soon be wiped off. Dr Pandey added, “What will happen next summer is still an open ended question,”

Dr Pandey said that the utility would be calling for new contracts worth Rs 3,000 crore for infrastructure development by June 24. Under the Rajiv Gandhi rural electrification programme, projects worth Rs 350 crore would soon be awarded.

A decision would be taken soon on allotting 10 circles to private power players for power distribution, he said.

More Stories on : Power | Maharashtra

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