The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Rain comes in handy for TNEB

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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Rain comes in handy for TNEB

T. Ramakrishnan

CHENNAI: Rainfall in the last one week over parts of the southern peninsula, coupled with the revival of windy season, has come in handy for the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board to relax urban and rural load shedding.

At present, the scheme of zonal holidays for industry is in force. If the situation improves, the relaxation of even this scheme can be considered, says a Board official.

According to Meteorological Department, Kerala recorded 23 cm rainfall during the week that ended on Wednesday; south interior Karnataka 10 cm and Tamil Nadu 2 cm. The figures of deviation from the normal rainfall were 56 per cent, 111 per cent and 18 per cent. As catchment of some of the Board’s hydel reservoirs is located in parts of Kerala and Karnataka, the rainfall has acquired relevance.

[As for the total rainfall received by Tamil Nadu from June 1 to July 31, the figure of deviation from the normal rainfall was nine per cent].

On Saturday morning, the hydel reservoirs under the Board’s control recorded an inflow of about 40 million units. [The Board measures inflows and storage in terms of possible power generation]. Their storage was around 980 MU, an addition of 400 MU in the last two weeks.

On an average, wind contributed 1,500 megawatt (MW). On Friday evening, its contribution was almost 1,900 MW. On Saturday morning, the supply was about 1,300 MW. The peak demand met by the TNEB was about 7,850 MW.

Even as the pressure on the power managers has come down marginally, the efforts of the Board in purchasing power from new sources have not met with great success. Ten days ago, it floated bids for power from cogeneration plants and captive power plants using furnace oil. The response has been extremely poor, says another official. Against the original expectation of 500 MW from these sources, the quantum of power offered was not even one-tenth of what was expected.

The average cost of power offered was Rs.7 per unit. Earlier, the Board planned to tap power from CPPs using diesel.

Now, with the experience gained in the two bids and in the context of reports of oil companies not willing to provide diesel, it has to examine seriously whether it will be worthwhile to float bids once more, the official adds.

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