The Hindu : New Delhi News : “No power shortfalls”

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Wednesday, Dec 19, 2007
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New Delhi

New Delhi

“No power shortfalls”

Smriti Kak Ramachandran

Unscheduled cuts due to maintenance works

“Currently under-drawing from the Northern Grid”
“Use of CFLs has reduced energy consumption”

NEW DELHI: The Meteorological Department’s forecast indicating a further dip in the mercury level may have aggravated the consumers’ discomfort, but the Delhi Government’s Power Department says it is equipped to provide the city sufficient power to keep it warm. With the temperatures falling sharply with each passing day, consumption of power is expected to go up in the weeks to come.

The department, however, claims there is no reason for worry as there is no shortfall of power. The Capital at present has surplus power and the best practices — energy conservation — adopted by the consumers have helped keep the demand and consumption low.

The unscheduled power cuts that several parts of the city experienced over the past week have been attributed to the power distribution companies carrying out maintenance works and cracking down on “power thieves”.

“We are currently under-drawing from the Northern Grid. To meet the peak demand for power in the morning we get about 250 MW from Mumbai on need basis and there is round-the-clock supply of 50 MW from the Damodar Valley Corporation apart from our regular arrangements,” says a senior Power Department official.

Fall in hydro-power

Referring to the decline in hydro-power generation due to the early onset of winter this year, another official said: “This happens every winter, but adequate arrangements have been made to procure power through agreements with other States.”

With power production at the Nathpa Jhakri hydro-power project that has an installed capacity of 1,500 MW coming down due to water shortage in the Sutlej, Delhi which has an allocation of about 142 MW can face a power shortage.

Confident of meeting the city’s demand, officials assert that the city’s power consumption has shown only a slight increase over the years. This, they say, is the outcome of the energy conservation practices adopted by the people: “Consumers have become more cautious and conscious…they use energy judiciously and the use of CFLs too has helped bring down the energy consumption.”

The peak demand for power in December this year so far has been 3,099 MW, registered on Monday at 7-55 a.m.

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