Peak power demand in Odisha to grow 16% in 2013-14

Peak power demand in Odisha is poised to grow at the rate of 16 per cent in 2013-14, the highest since 2007-08, mainly on the back of additional power load of around 1,200 Mw needed for implementing Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) and Biju Gram Jyoti Yojana (BGJY).

The state’s peak power requirement for the next fiscal has been pegged at 4,491 Mw up from 3,871 Mw in 2012-13, energy minister Arun Kumar Sahoo said in a written reply in the state assembly.

Quoting information provided by bulk power purchaser Gridco, the minister said, the growth in power demand in the first two financial years, 2012-13 and 2013-14, of the 12th Plan will remain robust at 10.2 per cent and 16 per cent respectively. In the succeeding years of the Plan, the demand will largely moderate, registering fairly modest growth of five per cent in 2014-15, 4.8 per cent in 2015-16 and 3.8 per cent in 2016-17.

By the end of 11th Plan in 2011-12, the state’s peak power demand stood at 3,511 Mw, but it is projected to rise significantly to 5,132 Mw in 2016-17, the last year of the 12th Plan period (2012-17).

According to the 18th Electric Power Survey (EPS) conducted by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Odisha was to face peak power shortfall of 1,646 Mw during 2012-13. But the state government is poised for a comfortable power surplus situation in the remaining four years of the 12th Plan, as per the CEA report. To secure its long-term energy need, the state government had signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with 29 independent power producers (IPPs).

Sterlite Energy, a unit of London listed metals & mining major Vedanta Resources Plc, had commissioned its 2400 coal-fired power station at Burkhamunda near Jharsuguda. GMR Energy Ltd has also operationalized its 350 Mw at Kamalanga near Dhenkanal. Monnet Power is expected to commission its 525 Mw unit of its 1,050 Mw power plant at Malibrahmani near Angul by September this year.

While the IPPs envisaged a total production capacity of 37,000 Mw, state share from these upcoming power stations was projected at around 6,000 Mw.