Rains Help Bridge Gap Between Power Demand And Supply

The widespread rains that Gujarat has received so far this year has helped considerably reduce the gap between the demand and supply of power in the state, according to Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB) chairman Nalin Bhatt.

Emphasising that the bountiful rains witnessed so far have come as a blessing after two years of successive droughts, Bhatt said it has helped in reducing peak hour demand of power by 436 lakh units.

Revealing that the average power demand in the peak summer month of May is normally around 1,510 lakh units per day, the GEB chairman said that it has come down this year to 1,074 lakh units.

And, therefore, the average load-shedding, that ranged between 500 to 1,000 MW in peak summer, has been reduced to 300 MW now, he added. He said that the hydro power generation of 547 MW in Gujarat had come to grinding halt due to two years of successive droughts, which had brought down the water level at Ukai and Kandana dams.

Bhatt said there was a planned shut-down of four units, having total generation capacity of 613.5 MW, for the purpose of overhauling, maintenance and minor repairs for a period ranging between 20 to 40 days.

Moreover, ten other power units with a total generation capacity of 1,080.5 MW had forced shutdown demanding major repairs, he added. According to the GEB chairman, the total installed power capacity in Gujarat was 8,542 MW, which included 4,960 MW of GEB, 2,060 MW of private sector and 1,562 MW of central sector. Out of these, derated generation capacity was to the tune of 8,506 MW.

Disclosing that as many as six power projects with a total generation capacity of 1,073 MW were at present in various stages of implementation, he said that two other projects having a total capacity of 1,000 MW have been granted approval.

Elaborating further, he said that the six projects at various stages of implementation are the 156 MW gas-based power project by Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd (GSPC) at Hazira, 110 MW gas-based project by GSEC at Dhuvaran, 75 MW lignite-based project by Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC) at Acrimota and 232 MW hydra power that would be received as Gujarat