Power shortage in TN drops below 1% in 2012-13

Peak power shortage in Tamil Nadu has dropped to 0.9 per cent in Apr-Jun 2014, down from 13.2 per cent in 2012-13.

Speaking at the State Assembly today, electricity, prohibition and excise Minister Natham R Viswanathan said the installed production capacity is around 12,484 Mw plus additional (8,219-Mw of renewable energy).

The peak power demand rose to 13,775-Mw at 293.97 million units in June 2014, up from 10,702-Mw at 233.59 million units in March 2011.

The state added 2,500-Mw between 2011 and 2014, including Mettur (600-Mw), north Chennai (1200-Mw) and NTPC (700-Mw).

The minister said the future demand for electricity is expected to touch 14,500-Mw in 2014-15, from the current around 13,500-Mw.

To address the future demand shortfall, state government had inked agreements for 3,330-Mw power for the next 15 years, starting from 2014-15. Of this, 1,500-Mw would be sourced from August 2014, 1,098-Mw would be met from Coastal Energy and IL&FS, said the minister.

Some of the key projects, to the tune of 2,000-Mw, which are expected to go on stream, include TNEB-NTPC (State distribution company's share of 350-Mw), the joint Neyveli Lignite Corporation and Tamil Nadu Electricity Board project (387-Mw), Neyveli Lignite (230-Mw) and Kudankulam (1,025-Mw).

The minister also noted job orders were given to projects with a cumulative generation capacity of 3,300-Mw, which are worth Rs 23,512 crore. These projects are coming at Ennore and Udangudi and are expected to go on stream between 2017 and 2019.