Showers of blessing cut outages in Tamil Nadu
The drop in temperature following intermittent showers across the state has reduced the demand for power and allowed the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) to temporarily withdraw the daily scheduled power cuts since Friday.
There has also been a steady rise in wind energy generation over the past few days. The total wind energy generation in the state has been between 2,900MW and 3,500MW per day, as compared to below 2,000MW last week, taking the heat off the electricity board.
Board officials said they would not impose the daily one-hour power cut in the city and the three-hour outage in the districts for as long as the demand stays low. With the Met department predicting spells of rain in the coming days, morning temperatures are likely to remain relatively lower than normal for this time of year and ease the board's supply shortage situation.
The state's total electricity consumption declined by around 500MW since July 1, TNEB officials said. "Whenever there is an increase in total generation of electricity or a drop in demand, the benefit will be passed on to the consumers," a board official said.
"Wind energy generation was low last week, but it has picked up since them." The weekend power holidays for high tension consumers also helped the board divert electricity to domestic consumers, he said.
However, he cautioned that the board had withdrawn scheduled power cuts only temporarily and would have to impose the outages id generation falls. Due to a decline in total generation, many areas faced unscheduled power cuts including wind energy.
The state's electricity demand is around 12,000MW per hour but total generation is only 8,000MW per hour. Due to the showers in the city and elsewhere in the state, consumption declined by around 500MW.
The total consumption of energy in the city, which has more than 20 lakh connections, was around 2,450MW per hour in June but for more than a week now it has been around 2,000MW.
The decline of power consumption does not actually result in energy saving but helps reduce overall power deficit. With several power projects, including the Kudankulam nuclear plant, nearing completion or about to start production, TNEB officials are hopeful that its deficit problem could soon be resolved.
Stage-II of North Chennai Thermal Power Station is being expanded, with two units of 600MW each expected to be commissioned before July and October this year. The Mettur thermal power station is also being augmented by 600MW by mid-2012.