Load shedding for two hours in Chennai city and its suburbs is a thing of the past at least for now, thanks to the ‘windfall’ generation of electricity of an average of 3000 MW from wind mills in the State.
Presently, power cut is effected only for regular maintenance work. The electricity demand in Chennai is huge — about 3000 MW – which is the quantum of power needed for the whole State of Kerala! Till the onset of ‘wind season’ during the second week of May, load shedding was imposed to meet the demand and supply gap.
Through the load shedding exercise, approximately 400-450 MW of power consumption in the city was ‘cut.’ Although the level of power cuts in Chennai was far less than what was experienced by the rest of Tamil Nadu, it proved a irritant especially during the summer.
According to sources, the wind farms in Tamil Nadu are operating almost at the ‘optimum’ level of production, providing as much as 3,800 MW at times. The State has an installed wind capacity of 6970 MW. Besides the wind mills, the up and coming power generation units are also lending a helping hand to oust power cuts. For instance, the State is getting 375 MW of power as its share form the new Vallur plant in North Chennai which officially began commercial operations recently.
Similarly, the North Chennai Stage-II (2 x 600 MW) and the Mettur Stage-III (1 x 600 MW) power plants make a “significant contribution” to the kitty and are on the path to declaring commercial operations open.
The Commercial Operations Declaration (COD) is made when electricity generation is ‘firm and continuous’ from the new plants.
Although there are no power cuts, many localities of the city and suburbs still battle low voltage. Says Karthik C of Madipakkam, “Rain or shine, summer or winter, low voltage is a permanent feature for us in New Kuberan Nagar.” Residents from several suburbs also complained that they faced the issue of ‘low and lowest voltage.’
When asked, power managers said they have already taken several measures to tackle the problem. “When we use more and more wind power this is [low voltage] one issue. As part of measures to address low voltage, we also use equipment in the decommissioned Basin Bridge unit for reactive power,” an official said.
Despite the breather for domestic consumers, commercial and industrial users continue to face curbs under the Restrictions and Control Measures.
