Demand-supply gap big hurdle
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Abnormal increase in power demand
Hiralal Samariya, CMD, APTransco
Whether it is Rabi or Kharif, increasing demand has become a challenging task and the discoms have to strive hard to meet the requirements. Power cuts have to be imposed due to fuel shortages, reduced hydel inflows, continuous dry spell and the transmission corridor problem. Currently, gas based power plants are operating at a plant load factor of only 34 per cent. The government and utilities must urge the Centre for extra gas allocation to come out of this crisis.
The State government has given topmost priority to the development of the power sector with the ultimate goal of achieving self sufficiency in power in the long run. However, the State’s per capita consumption of electricity has reached 1050 Kwh as against the national average of 813 Kwh as envisaged by the National Electricity Policy. The average demand during June 2012 was 251.89 MU per day against 218.91 MU per day during the same period last year, registering an increase of 15.06 per cent.
Even after huge capacity addition, the demand-supply gap keeps on increasing due to various constraints like gas supplies coming down from the Reliance D6 blocks leading to ideal capacity of about 1670 MW out of 2770 MW of installed capacity. At present, the gas based power plants are receiving natural gas of about 6.43 MMSCMD only against the total requirement of 13.65 MMSCMD, leaving a deficit of around 7.22 MMSCMD.
There is a gradual depletion of coal. Coal-based power plants constitute more than 50 per cent of existing installed capacity and any considerable changes in supply of coal can affect the entire power sector significantly. Presently, the state of Andhra Pradesh is importing 1.6 million tonnes of coal at a very high cost to meet the shortfall for its APgenco plants.
In addition to the above, the need for power is increasing abnormally in all sectors — agricultural, domestic, commercial, industrial — irrespective of seasonal changes. Dur-ing the Rabi season in 2012, an all-time high demand of 307 MU was recorded as against 282 MU during the Rabi season in 2011.
One of the steps towards finding a solution is the State government entering into a project framework agreement with a leading international firm, GDF SUEZ LNG UK Ltd, in New Delhi on April 17, 2012 for setting up a Floating Storage Re-gasification Unit (FSRU) at Kakinada sea port to boost power generation in the State by 3,000 MW from gas based power projects.
Also, the State government is encouraging private developers to invest in additional power generation by extending various incentives.
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