Power supply from Thalchar and Ramagundam thermal plants to Kerala has improved slightly but it still remained 150 MW below normal from the Central grid, according to senior KSEB sources.
Problems in coal supply, which were cited as the reason for the disruption in power supply, have been solved partially. At the same time, the Board fears possible disruption from Andhra Pradesh on account of the Telangana agitation, senior officials told Business Line .
They said there was a shortage of nearly one million units during peak hours. The peak hour demand has gone up to 3,250 MW and given the current trend, it is expected to cross 3,600 MW, they said.
They said efforts were being made to avoid load shedding but if transmission from outside the State is disrupted, undeclared load shedding would be unavoidable during peak hours. There was 10- to 15-minute load shedding during peak hours for a couple of days last week.
Another bottleneck is the non-completion of the transmission line from Mysore to Thrissur which would have improved the power situation in north Kerala to a great extent.
There was an agreement that the line would be constructed with police protection, but the work hasn’t started yet.
All the hydro-electric plants are operating in full capacity because of the fall in supply from the Central grid and to avoid purchase of high-cost thermal power, the officials said. A total of 38 million units are generated daily from the hydel projects as on Tuesday, they said.
During normal monsoon months, 20 million units are generated. However, when there is a good monsoon it would go up to 35 million units. But, because of the shortage, it is now generating 38 millions units daily, they said.
Due to the short fall in supply from the Central grid, maintenance of the Idukki and Sabarigiri projects that is normally taken up during the monsoon period has been postponed, they said.