Faced with acute shortage of power, the Orissa government has decided to go for load shedding in the state with a humane face. The sympathetic approach of the government to the issue will be demonstrated through minimizing the duration of load shedding in peak time and resorting to longer power cuts in the off-peak period.
For this purpose, the Orissa government has asked the State Load Despatch Centre (SLDC) to augment hydro power generation during the peak demand period and reduce generation during the off-peak time. Similarly, it has asked the power distribution companies to take into consideration the examination time of the students while resorting to power regulation. The orders of the Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) pertaining to power cut in the state will come into effect after the power distribution companies and the State Lead Despatch Centre (SLDC) agree to these suggestions.
Talking to the media after a high level meeting on the issue, the state energy minister, Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak said, the government is working in a coordinated way to reduce the inconvenience to the people on account of power cut. While attempts are being made to obtain electricity from other states through power banking, the supply to industries will be rationalised. Besides, the industries have been urged to go for voluntary cut in their energy demands. Though the government is taking long term steps to augment power generation, this year’s problem has been due to erratic rainfall.
With per day peak demand being about 2800 Mw and non-peak demand 2300 Mw, there is shortage of about 500 Mw per day. This is being compensated by load shedding in the rural and urban areas except Bhubaneswar.
Energy secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena said, the generation from the hydro sector has declined by 50 percent to 4000 million units per day in 2009-10 compared to 2007-08, causing the shortage of power. However, efforts are on to get more power through power banking from other states. While Punjab has agreed to supply its surplus power to Orissa, talks are on with states like Meghalaya and Assam for power banking.
