Peak power deficit hits 10-year high

An exceptional spurt in demand for power and less-than-expected capacity addition has pushed up the peak deficit for the April-October period to a 10-year high of 14.6 per cent.

According to the latest data, the capacity addition of 3,765 Mw in the first seven months of the financial year is just 32 per cent of the target.

This has led to a further scaling down of expected power capacity addition in the current year from about 17,000 Mw to 12,000 Mw. "We may actually add no more than 10,000 Mw this year," said a power ministry official.

On peak deficit, the official said: "It is a one-off case, it is an exception."

However, the power generation is up. Against 53,963 million units (MUs) generated in September, about 56,547 MUs were generated in October, an increase of 4.6 per cent. 
 

PEAK DEFICIT HITS A DECADE HIGH....
year	energy shortage (%)	peak shortage (%)
1996-97	11.5	18
1997-98	8.1	11.1
1998-99	5.9	13.9
1999-00	6.2	12.4
2000-01	7.8	12.3
2001-02	7.5	11.8
2002-03	8.8	12.2
2003-04	7.1	11.2
2004-05	7.3	11.7
2005-06	8.4	12.3
2006-07	9.6	13.8
Aprl-Oct, 2007	7.3	14.6
... AS POWER CAPACITY ADDITION MISSES TARGETS
	2007 (Apr-Oct)	2006 (Apr-Oct)
Capacity addition Target (mw)	11,595	6,379
Achievement (mw)	3,765	3,415
Achievement (per cent)	32	54
Deficit (mw)	7,830	2,964

The overall power supply position (non-peak power) also improved to 7.3 per cent.

Regionwise, western India, which has industrialised states like Maharashtra and Gujarat, continued to reel under peak power and energy shortage. While the peak shortage in the region was 26.6 per cent in October, the energy shortage was 15 per cent.

Maharashtra had a peak deficit of 26.8 per cent and energy shortage of 19 per cent. In the northern region, Uttar Pradesh was one of the worst performers with an energy shortage of 14 per cent and a peak deficit of over 18 per cent.

Conceding that capacity addition was unable to keep pace with demand, the official cited shortage of equipment and manpower as the main reason for the sector's non-performance.

"An acute shortage of vendors for balance-of-plant equipment is also delaying the commissioning of plants," said a power ministry official.

Industry experts say capacity addition should be accompanied with power reforms, especially those aimed at reducing transmission and distribution losses and theft.