The Hindu : Karnataka News : Dry weather leads to rise in power consumption

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 17, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Dry weather leads to rise in power consumption

B.S. Satish Kumar

It touched almost 119 million units on Sunday

BANGALORE: It is not just the political temperature that is increasing in Karnataka. Power consumption too has sharply increased in the last few days due to prolonged dry weather.

What has gone unnoticed in the last couple of weeks that saw hectic political developments is the shocking fact that the State’s power consumption increased by 50 per cent compared with the position about a month ago and by about 20 per cent in the last 10 days.

Power consumption, which was around 81 million units on September 15, touched almost 119 million units on October 14, according to statistics available with the Load Despatch Centre that monitors the power supply situation in the State.

According to sources in Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL), the increase in power consumption is mainly due to the absence of rain. “From the power supply point of view, the State is having a feel of summer in this season itself,” remarked an official.

The prolonged dry spell has resulted in the excess use of irrigation pumpsets in villages to pump groundwater for protecting the standing crops. Similarly, in the cities, the use of fans and air-conditioners has increased due to the dry weather. This has led to a sharp increase in power consumption.

The sudden increase in power consumption has put Karnataka in a tight spot as three of its hydel units, including a 135-mw generating unit at the Nagajhari Power House, are yet to resume power generation. The State is now facing a shortage of 200 mw to 250 mw during the peak hours.

What has made the situation complicated is that Karnataka cannot even look for help from its neighbouring States as they are facing an even greater shortage.

The power consumption in Andhra Pradesh has touched 174 million units while Tamil Nadu’s consumption has increased to 171 million units.

The shortage in availability of power has resulted in overdrawal from the Central power generating stations by the southern States, barring Kerala.

According to KPTCL sources, the overdrawal is more by Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh as the shortage level is higher there.

Loadshedding

The overdrawal has led to unscheduled loadshedding of small duration during peak hours, as and when required, to maintain grid frequency level.

The electricity supply companies in the State have resorted to such a step to maintain grid frequency level which had fallen sharply due to the overdrawal by the southern States. The urban areas are not affected so far by the loadshedding which is being enforced only when the grid frequency level falls sharply.

According to KPTCL sources, the falling grid frequency level had caused concern last week as the overdrawal had increased. The Southern Regional Load Despatch Centre, which monitors the power supply situation in the southern region, reportedly asked the southern States to maintain the grid frequency level by resorting to loadshedding.

The frequency level was restored after the unscheduled loadshedding, the sources said and noted that each electricity supply company in the State had been given an energy quota in the wake of the power shortage.

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