The Hindu : New Delhi News : Delay in monsoon may cause major power crisis

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 24, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Delay in monsoon may cause major power crisis

Sandeep Joshi

Long power cuts in the offing if peak demand touches 3,700 MW in July Experts say despite the monsoon, the demand for power is always higher in July as humidity levels suddenly go up

NEW DELHI: Any delay in the onset of the monsoon is likely to cause a major power crisis in the Capital. Already the demand for power is fluctuating between 3,300 MW and 3,500 MW, while the availability is around 3,500 MW. With the demand likely to touch 3,700 MW in July due to hot and humid weather, Delhiites might have to face long hours of power cuts in the days ahead.

Interestingly, Thursday saw the highest-ever demand in the Capital at 3,626 MW while the previous maximum demand for this season was 3,397 MW recorded on Wednesday. And if this hot spell of weather continues and the monsoon is delayed, the Capital might see a shortfall of at least 300 MW in July. Experts say despite the monsoon, the demand for power is always higher in July as humidity levels suddenly go up.

While presenting its summer action plan a couple of months ago, the Delhi Government had announced that it would be 3,630 MW in June, 3,571 MW in July, 3,611 MW in August and 3,493 in September, while anticipating the average demand at 3,500 MW during the five months of summer season. It had also ruled out chances of any shortage being faced by the Capital.

However, continuous shortfall in supply to the Northern Grid besides Delhi's failure to make optimum utilisation of its own generating capacity has led to a shortfall in supply forcing Delhiites to face long hours of unscheduled load-shedding with the most affected areas being East, South, West and Outer Delhi areas.

Delhi's transmission company -- Transco -- has been facing shortfall in supply during the past week as demand has surpassed availability. In June, the average availability of power is 3,400 MW -- 1,500 MW from the Northern Grid, 750 MW from Delhi's own generation, 650 MW from Badarpur plant, 400 MW from Himachal Pradesh and 100 MW from a private power company.

However, with agreement with the private company coming to an end on June 30, availability in July will come down to 3,300 MW.

Experts say the real test for Transco and private distribution companies would come in July when the reliability of their systems would be tested in heavy rain.

It also remains to be seen how these power companies meet the shortfall in demand in the coming days, they added.

Meanwhile, the Capital on Thursday saw load-shedding of 93 MW, mainly due to technical snags in Transco's supply system and local faults in various areas.

The situation in the Northern Grid remained mainly stable, while of the six generating units at Nathpa Jhakri plant at Himachal Pradesh that were shut on Wednesday, only one remained affected on Thursday.

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