THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Going by a Central Electricity Authority (CEA) report, Kerala would find itself in the midst of a power crisis by the end of this fiscal.The state would face a shortage of 12.2 percent in energy requirement during 2011-2012, according to the Load Generation Balance Report (LGBR) of the CEA. While the actual requirement would be 19,019 million units (MU), only 16,689 MU would be available, according to the ‘Anticipated power supply position for 2011-2012.’In a nutshell, the state would face a shortage of 2,330 MU this financial year and in the absence of major power generation happening within its borders, the state would have to continue depending on heavy power purchases to bridge the gap. According to the KSEB, a major share of its annual budget is spent on buying costly thermal power from outside.The LGBR assesses the anticipated power supply position for the entire country on the basis of power availability from various stations, fuel availability and anticipated water availability at hydro-electric stations.All of India would face a shortage of 12.9 percent in power supply this fiscal. While the energy requirement for the fiscal is pegged at 1,36,193 MU, only 1,18,676 MU would be available, a shortfall of 17,517 MU, according to the CEA. The situation of the four southern states is no different; there would be a shortfall of 5,388 MU (14.5 per cent). Against a total requirement of 37,247 MU this fiscal, only 31,859 MU would be available for Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry and Karnataka.The gravity of the situation, especially for Kerala, can be seen from the fact that the state faced only a shortage of 1.4 per cent during 2010-2011. According to the forecast for the current fiscal, the state would also face a nine percent shortage in the peak demand. While the peak demand is pegged at 3,400 megawatts, only 3,094 megawatts would be available.
Comments
0 comment