The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Rain helps State to draw more power

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 22, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Rain helps State to draw more power

M. Malleswara Rao

Emergency drawal by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala falls due to low pressure in Arabian Sea

HYDERABAD: The rains in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, caused by a low pressure system in the Arabian Sea, have turned out to be a boon to Andhra Pradesh in respect of power supply.

The emergency drawal of power by these States from the Southern Grid (SG) suddenly tumbled by eight million units on Thursday following rains. As a result, an equivalent quantity of power is available for drawal by Andhra Pradesh where the demand is going up with each passing day.

Seizing the opportunity, the AP Transco has begun drawing heavily from the Southern Grid to cope with the rise in demand.

It could meet without difficulty a high demand of 199.04 million units on Thursday by drawing 51.08 million units from the grid against 44 mu it used to draw earlier.

A State has to pay a high price if it makes emergency drawal when the line frequency is low. However, Andhra Pradesh is paying a lower price for drawing power from the regional grid as the line frequency of the SG is presently high consequent on the fall in demand in other Southern States.

The total energy demand met in Tamil Nadu on March 20 fell to 158 million units (from 166 mu on March 19), that of Karnataka to 122 mu (126 mu) and of Kerala to 40 mu (43 mu).

As the low pressure system in the Arabian Sea is likely to persist for a few more days, the wet spell over the peninsular region will continue and provide the much-needed relief to Andhra Pradesh on the power front.

The rains also helped AP Transco in cutting down generation at Srisailam hydro-electric project to conserve water till the onset of monsoon.

Water levels

The water level in Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar reservoirs on Friday stood at 850 ft and 520 ft respectively (their full levels 884 ft and 590 ft ), which is sufficient to generate 504 million units of power.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh