THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The demand for power has gone up so high in the state when not a single participant had came forward after KSEBL invited e-tenders for short-term procurement to address the peak summer demand.
The electricity market has become very tight as the other south Indian states are already facing power cuts. Now, the board has been forced to procure 100 MW of power for round-the-clock supply and another 15 MW for peak hours from April 25 to May 18 from the open market.
The commercial and tariff wing at Vydyuthi Bhavan had sought short-term procurement of power for the peak summer period through national e-bidding portal Discovery of Efficient Electricity Price (DEEP). Despite the web portal promising seamless power supply from the seller to the buyer, the state’s requirement was not met which led the board to buy power from the open market. Fortunately, the authorities had put a cap of `12 per unit while buying power from the power exchange.
A senior board official told TNIE that they decided to procure power for the short term as the consumption had gone up in the recent days. “On Thursday, power consumption in the state clocked an all-time high of 89.75 million units. The highest consumption recorded earlier by KSEB was on March 15— 89.62 million units. Kerala is the only South Indian state to get 24x7 power supply,” said a senior KSEBL official.
The recent total shutdown of Kuttiyadi power station also prompted the board to go for a short-term power purchase. But with the paucity of coal in North India, there has been further demand for power from those states as well. When the KSEB’s attempt to buy short-term power failed, it still managed with its surplus. But after May 5, the board has decided to purchase another 80 MW and if their e-bidding through DEEP fails, then they would be approaching the power exchange yet again.
All-time high
On Thursday, power consumption in the state clocked an all-time high of 89.75 million units. The highest consumption recorded earlier by KSEB was on March 15— 89.62 million units