Power capacity grows 8.12 per cent in August

The installed capacity in the power sector stood at 165,000 Mw at the end of August, registering 8.12 per cent annual growth.

The growth rate in the same month last year was 4.4 per cent, and the total installed capacity stood at 152,000 lakh Mw.

Capacity addition of 12,336 Mw was seen in the 12-month period to August, almost double of 6,521.44 Mw achieved in August 2008-August 2009, according to figures released by the Central Electricity Authority.

The total installed generation in the thermal segment stood at 106,000 Mw in August, an 8.75 per cent growth over 97,869.24 Mw in the month last year.

 

In the nuclear segment, the installed capacity grew at 10.6 per cent, or 4,560 Mw, against 4,120 Mw in August last year.

The hydro segment turned out to be a laggard, with only 0.45 per cent increase in installed capacity at 37,086.40 Mw, against 36,916.76 Mw last August.

Increased capacity utilisation, however, brought down the power deficit in the country to 10.7 per cent, compared with 14.2 per cent in the same month last year.

“With the new capacity addition, we expect the power deficit to come down to 9.5 per cent in 2011-12,” Angel Broking analyst Rupesh Sankhe said.

The peak demand (provisional) for power stood at 114,737 Mw in August as compared to 114,412 Mw in August last year. The gap in the demand and supply of power came down to 12,291 Mw in August against 16,258 Mw in the same month last year. This reduced the power deficit to 10.7 per cent against 14.2 per cent in the same month a year ago.