The Hindu : Front Page : Power supply position critical again

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Oct 29, 2006
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Power supply position critical again

Special Correspondent

Any further fall in line frequency will result in tripping of generation stations in a chain reaction

HYDERABAD: Power supply position has turned critical again as evident from a sharp fall in line frequency.

The frequency dropped to 49.2 cycles per second on Saturday and was hovering precariously around this level. Any further fall will result in tripping of the generation stations in a chain effect. The grid has to maintain a minimum statutory frequency of 49.5 cycles while the ideal frequency is 50 cycles.

A daily power cut of over four hours (8.3 million units) is being continued in villages and minor towns as the demand remains at its peak of 170 mu a day in spite of a fresh spell of rain. This is due to the kharif season spilling over to October-November as a result of late sowings.

The demand is expected to reach 195 mu a day in November when the rabi starts in even with the kharif on. The load on account of free power supply is such that the agriculture demand is claiming over 40 per cent of the power generated. On Friday, the AP Transco supplied 160.8 mu and took load relief of 8.3 mu (cut), while the demand stood at 169 mu.

The present shortage is due to a loss of 1,167 MW of installed capacity following outage of many units, six of them due to gas shortage. This capacity, if available, would have generated 28 mu per day. Three units at Neyveli (40 MW each) have been closed for want of lignite.

Widespread rain

Meanwhile, widespread rain lashed the State under the influence of a "trough" present near the Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu coasts. The North-East monsoon turned vigorous. Many places in Coastal Andhra and Rayalsaeema received rain while Kavali and Kandukur recorded heavy fall of 9 cm each.

Tuni received 8 cm, Machilipatnam 7 cm, Ongole 5 cm, Nalgonda 4 cm, Kakinada, Vijayawada Airport, Madhira, Nagarjunasagar 3 cm each; and Bapatla, Chittoor, Narsapur, Tirupati, Visakhapatnam, Gudiwada, Kaikalur, Prakasam Barrage and Repalli 2 cm each.

A forecast for Sunday says Rayalaseema, Nellore, Prakasam, Guntur and Krishna districts will get moderate to heavy rain.

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