TN declares power holiday to industries from March 1
The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) has announced a power holiday to all industries with effect from March 1, and also announced 40 per cent power cut to all industrial and commercial consumers.
The state is facing a shortage of 3000-4000 Mw. In an announcement today, the board said the demand for power is 11,500 to 12,500 Mw.
Availability from internal generation, share from Central Generating Station and other sources is 8,500 MW. Demand is raising by 10 per cent every year in the State. There is a gap of 3,000–4,000 Mw.
There has been no major capacity additions over the last several years.
Moreover, all the projects have been delayed due to various reasons.
To meet the power demand, the ongoing projects — Mettur Thermal Power Project Stage III (1 x 600 MW), North Chennai Thermal Power Project Stage II (2 x 600 MW), NTPC Joint Venture Project at Vallur (3 x 500), Koodangulam Atomic Power Project (2 x 1000 MW), NLC TS II expansion (2 x 250 MW) — were expected to be made operational this year. However, all the projects have been delayed due to various reasons. Therefore, the gap in the demand-supply has become inevitable.
As the present restrictions and control measures are not sufficient to cover the above gap, TANGEDCO is forced to resort to unscheduled load shedding, in order to ensure grid security, it said.
To address the issue, 40 per cent power will be cut to all industrial and commercial consumers from February 27, Chennai city and suburban areas will see two hours load shedding, other rural and urban areas will see four hours of load shedding.
Evening peak hour (6.00 PM to 10.00 PM) restriction to commercial consumers and power holiday to all industries will be in effect from March 1.
The restrictions and controls will be implemented according to the local needs and will be suitably altered whenever required. Load shedding measures will be revised, depending upon the demand and supply gap, said the release.
“This deficit situation is likely to last for few months. From June, with wind generation picking up and power projects becoming functional one after other, it will be possible to relax some of the restrictions and controls by that time,” said the board.