Pune: The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) has catered to the demand of 20,330 MW on September 15, without any load curtailment, which is almost equal to highest ever demand of 20,340 MW recorded on April 23 this year.
This demand is about 3,500 MW - 22 per cent higher as compared to the previous year for the same period. The rise in demand is mainly on account of rise in agricultural demand due to the dry spell of monsoon.
“This demand is successfully catered by MSEDCL despite reduced availability from various generators tied up under long-term power purchase, due to prevailing coal shortage scenario,” said an official.
“The total availability from the long-term contracted generator was around 14,354 MW as against the contracted capacity of 29,840 MW. The generation available from Mahagenco was 5,116 MW against contracted 10,842 MW, 3,536 MW from NTPC as against contracted 4,862 MW, 461 MW from NPCIL as against contracted 757 MW, 2,394 MW from Adani Power as against contracted 3,085 MW. The total contracted capacity of 1,200 MW was available from RPL. Further 588 MW from CGPL, 280 MW from JSW and 87MW from EMCO was available,” MSEDCL said in a statement.
In respect of generation from the renewable energy source, 628 MW was available from solar power against contracted 1,042 MW. However, generation from wind projects has reduced drastically since last 7-8 days and only 115 MW was available as against the contracted capacity of 3,765 MW.
“In anticipation of demand rise and reduced availability from long-term contracted generators, MSEDCL has made arrangement for meeting shortfall by the purchase of power from the market through bilateral short-term tender and Indian Energy Exchange. On September 15, MSEDCL has met its shortfall of around 5,200 MW by procuring 275 MW from bilateral short-term tender, 3,200 MW from Indian Energy Exchange and balance 1,675 MW by peaking Koyna Hydro Generation,” said the statement.
MSEDCL has managed to meet the rise in demand by utilising all its resources effectively for providing uninterrupted power supply to its consumers.
