Scorching heat: Tamil Nadu’s energy demand touches a new peak of 19,000 MW

Tamil Nadu’s power generating and distributing utility TANGEDCO (Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Ltd) has witnessed the energy demand in the State touch its new peak of 19,000 megawatt (MW) on Wednesday as the rising temperatures across the country including Tamil Nadu have led to an exponential rise in power consumption.

On Tuesday (April 18), the State’s peak demand reached an all-time high of 18,882 MW and the daily consumption level touched its new peak of 413.49 million units (MU). The previous peak was on April 29, 2023, when the demand was at 17,563 MW.

But with scorching heat continuing, Wednesday saw more than Tuesday’s demand. “I think we have touched the new peak demand of 19,000 MW on July 19,” Rajesh Lakhoni, CMD of TANGEDCO told businessline.

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The energy department had indicated that the summer peak power demand would increase in the range of 18,300 MW to 18,500 MW, and daily energy consumption to rise in the range of 390-395 MU during April and May.

But the current heatwave conditions are causing a huge rise in demand. “The increase in power demand this year is the highest in the last 10 years,” said Lakhoni.

Swap arrangements

Lakhoni said TANGEDCO has planned to meet the new peaks in energy consumption in the State through a three-pronged strategy as of now. Power swap agreements, purchase of power for peak hours instead of RTC (round the clock) power, and efficient use of hydropower.

TANGEDCO has entered into swap arrangements, wherein two utilities /States exchange power to match the seasonal variations in surplus and deficit situations purely on an energy-to-energy transaction basis without any monetary transactions.

Under this mechanism, the surplus power in other States is supplied to TANGEDCO in the required period and will be returned by TANGEDCO when surplus power is available from June to September (a huge quantum of wind power will be available) every year.

Buying for peak hours

“Also, instead of buying RTC power, we are now buying power for peak hours (morning or evening peak). While we cut our expenditure on this purchase, our demand is also better managed in this way,” he said.

Lakhoni also said TANGEDCO was also managing its hydropower capacity efficiently to manage the costs and demand.

“With all these arrangements, we hope to meet the summer demand of 2023 without any interruption of power. With the current strategies, we can meet up to 19,300-19,400 MW of demand,” he added.

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