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Catchment areas of the hydro-electric power projects in Kerala are yet to receive copious southwest monsoon rains, keeping the storage levels well below normal.
With the storage as on Thursday, 514 million units (mus) of power can be generated.
Normally, at the end of June, the storage used to be enough to generate 795 mus, a senior KSEB source told BusinessLine .
However, he said, the Met forecasts and other indications are positive and it is too early to arrive at a pessimistic conclusion.
A good downpour for 10 days in the catchment areas would fill up the reservoirs, he added.
The current daily demand is at 62 mus and it is met by hydel generation and imports from various sources. Currently, 8 mus are generated daily from the hydel sources, 27.8 mus come from the Central grid and 21.3 mus from purchases.
With purchases from power exchange and deviations, the total comes to 59.43 mus.
The gap of 3.5 mus is filled by wind mills and small hydro-electric projects in the private sector, the official said.
No to thermal powerThe KSEB, he said, is in a comfortable position and would avoid costly thermal power from NTPC Kayamkulam and BSES Ernakulalm this year.
He said the board is participating in tenders floated by the Centre. But adequate transmission corridor to lift power from the western region is still lacking and bringing power available at lower rates is often disrupted. Consequently, to meet the increased demand, overloading of the existing lines had to be resorted to, he said.
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