The Hindu Business Line : Power shortage unlikely this year in Kerala

The power situation in Kerala is likely to be comfortable this year also provided that the next south-west monsoon sets in on time by June first week and with a normal rainfall.

With the available water storage on Monday in all the reservoirs of the hydel projects in the State, 3,000 million units could be generated thanks to the copious rainfall last year. The major Idukki dam has storage up to 72 per cent of its capacity.

The daily generation from these projects at present is 20 plus million units. There are 144 days left till the onset of monsoon, senior KSEB sources told Business Line on Monday.

DAILY DEMAND

The average daily demand during peak hours is at 41 million units. The daily consumption pattern has been highly fluctuating.

Domestic air-conditioning following the increase in temperature is suspected to be reason for increase in October and December and the summer months, they said.

Highest level of demand is experienced during March and till April 15. In fact, from Mid-April the demand drops and from then onwards there used to be no increase, they said.

They said that the current peak demand is some here between 2,600 MW and 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. But, the actual availability these days ranges from 850-950 MW.

"It is a temporary phenomenon because of maintenance overlap. We expect that it would be rectified before January 15", they said.

External factors

There could be problem during the peak summer months due to external factors such as poor frequency from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

If it happens during these months the KSEB would be compelled to draw power from Kayamkulam and BSES thermal plants in the State pushing the power purchase cost significantly.

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

Even now to meet the peak hour demand the KSEB operates its diesel power plants at Brahmapuram near here (100 MW) and Kozhikode (80 - 90 MW).

The power generated by the 360-MW NTPC Kayamkulam plant is at present 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.

If the peak demand crossed 2,700 MW in the coming months the KSEB may have either to draw the high cost power from these two thermal plants or resort to power shedding/cuts, they added. It is unlikely that the government might prefer for a power shedding, they added.