Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will take a decision in the next couple of days on whether parched Kerala should go for load-shedding following a power crisis made worse by one of the driest August ever. The southern State depends on hydel power to meet its as much as 70 per cent of its needs, but has run up a cumulative rain deficit of 45 per cent from June 1 till date. 

Electricity Minister K Krishnan Kutty reviewed the power availability situation with utility Kerala State Electricity Board Ltd (KSEBL) on Monday. It has been decided that KSEBL will source 500 MW through a ‘swap arrangement’ based on willingness of other states to join in, and also go for short-term purchases of 200 MW to tide over the current shortage. 

Long-term contracts

Acting on a KSEBL petition, the State Electricity Regulatory Commission late on Monday ordered the interim arrangement for sourcing power through ‘unapproved’ long-term contracts be extended upto December 31 or till KSEBL makes alternate arrangements of procuring 500 mw power through swap, whichever is earlier. Four long-term contracts were struck during 2016-17 — for 115 mw and 100 mw from Jhabua Power, and 150 MW and 100 MW from Jindal Power.

KSEBL submitted the State has been experiencing a poor monsoon so far, badly affecting the storage position in reservoirs. The respective levels as on August 8 were Idukki (32.47 per cent); Sabarigiri (35.47 per cent); Idamalayar (42.18 per cent); Sholayar (58.21 per cent); and Kuttiyadi (49.44 per cent). But these levels have receded even further during the last two weeks. Overall storage position was 34.74 per cent on August 8 as against 79 per cent during the same day last year. 

Poor storage levels

In Idukki, the largest, the storage level was only 32.47 per cent as against 77.79 per cent last year. Similarly, storage in all major reservoirs is in the range of 35-40 per cent as against 75-80 per cent last year. The hot and humid weather due to monsoon failure has raised average energy demand during August this year to 83 mu (expected demand at 70 mu). Central Generating Stations are not operating to full capacity due to coal shortages and forced outages. Wind power is proving difficult to source just as deals through power exchanges . Of the 1,000 MW power quoted from exchanges, actual availability is 100 MW only, KSEBL stated. 

User profile pattern

Consumption is predominantly in domestic (76.34 per cent) and commercial (12.34 per cent) sectors in Kerala whereas in other states, a major portion it is in industry and agriculture. Kerala meets approximately 30 per cent of its requirement from renewable energy sources. Quantum of power available is met from Central Stations, private generators, power exchanges and also from internal sources including stations owned by KSEBL, independent power producers and captive power plants.

Of the total installed capacity of 3145.82 MW in 2021-22, the contribution of state sector was 2258.47 MW(71.97 per cent), Central sector 359.58 MW (11.40 per cent), and private sector 527.77 MW (16.77 per cent). Hydel power contributed the major share of 2,136.91 MW (67.92 per cent); thermal projects, 529.54 mw (16.83 per cent); solar, 409.09 mw (13 per cent); and wind, 70.28 MW (2.23 per cent). Peak demand had reached a record 5,024 MW on April 18 this year, the first time it crossed the 5,000-MW mark. 

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