2-hr power cut in city

[1]

Load-shedding in Chennai has now been doubled to two hours a day so as to divert the power thus saved to mitigate, even if in a small way, the misery of the districts.

Tangedco’s decision to reimpose two-hour cut in the city was taken hours after chief minister Jayalalithaa reviewed the power situation at the secretariat.

The gap between demand and supply has increased in the last few weeks forcing to increase the duration of load-shedding all over the state, except Chennai and its suburbs, a Tangedco release said.

“Now it has been decided to increase the load-shedding in Chennai and its suburbs from existing one hour to two hours between 8 am and 6 pm with effect from October 18, 2012, as there has been a vast variation in the duration of load-shedding between the city and other areas,” it said.

Tangedco’s move is to silence the criticism that Chennai has been spared from unscheduled power cuts at the cost of the rest of the state.

However, a senior Tangedco official said two hours power cut in the city would help reduce power cuts in the districts by a mere half-hour.

“By the additional one hour cut in the city, we could save only 200 MW, while the districts require 400 MW for meeting onehour requirement,“ the official pointed out.

People across the districts are resorting to numerous protests against the extension of power cuts. 18-HOUR POWER CUT A little relief to districts Two-hour load-shedding in the city from Thursday will yield some power to the districts facing up to 18 hours of power-cut a day With the state facing a deficit of over 4,000 MW, Tangedco pins its hopes on the arrival of the northeast monsoon to meet the energy demand.

The state has been facing ‘severe’ power shortage since the last week of September when wind power started showing signs of withdrawal. The windmills with a total installed capacity of 7,000 MW remained the single largest source of power for Tangedco between May and September generating nearly 3,500 MW to 4,000 MW a day.

“As the peak wind season ends, the power generation fell sharply to below 100 MW in the last week creating a deficit of 4,000 MW,” a Tangedco official said. Besides, the failure of southwest monsoon affected the hydel power generation.

Moreover, Vallur, North Chennai stage II and Mettur thermal power projects are getting delayed. With the first unit the Vallur plant expected to start its commercial generation only next month, the 600 MW Mettur plant would go on stream in December while North Chennai unit will take a few more months.

“We have no other option, but to hope for the NE monsoon as the power projects are getting delayed,” a senior Tangedco official said. He said once the rain starts, the corporation could save at least 2,000 MW a day from decline in AC usage and agricultural consumption, as farmers would not use motors.