KOLKATA: With the onset of winter, just one ultra mega power plant at full capacity is sufficient to meet India's shortfall that has shrunk to less than 4,000 MW. Although total demand has increased by 5,000-6,000 MW in the past one year, new capacities coupled with better grid management have led to the decline in the supply deficit.
On Friday last week, supply deficit declined to 3,277 MW, one of the lowest levels this year, compared to about 7,000 MW a year ago. This happened even as average coal stocks at all thermal power plants were down to six days, a critical level as per the norms of the Central Electricity Authority "With air-conditioners no more required to run at night as sweltering weather is making way for chilly winters in large parts of the country, demand from households has dwindled during the evening peak period, leading to low supply deficits," a senior power sector official told ET.
According to the official, who did not wish to be identified, an additional generation capacity during the past one year also helped reduce demand mismatch during the peak periods. "In fact, heavy consuming states like Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi recorded near zero supply shortfall while demand-supply mismatch in East India is a small 100 MW and in the West it is about 300 MW," the official said.
Uttar Pradesh and states in south India continue to show large demand-supply gap specifically due to grid congestion. UP's grid system isn't good enough to meet the demand for the power the state requires.
Source:Economic times
No comments:
Post a Comment