With Kerala staring at likely power shortages in the coming years, the State Electricity Regulatory Commission has asked the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) to spell out its plans for meeting the growing demand.
The commission has directed the KSEB to submit the proposals within three months covering a medium term comprising five to seven years and a longer period of 15 years. The direction came as part of an order allowing the KSEB to buy 300 MW round-the-clock (RTC) power for meeting the demand for the period from January 2024 to June 2026.
The commission, headed by T.K. Jose, based its direction on KSEB projections for the October 2023-June 2026 period. They indicate that Kerala is likely to experience shortages in the range of 300 MW to 900 MW in the coming summer, the Commission noted. As per the projections, this shortage could persist even counting in supply from a set of ‘unapproved’ long-term power supply contracts that had hit headlines after the commission declined to approve them in May this year.
The demand-supply gap would likely widen further in 2024-25 and 2025-26, the commission noted in a December 6 order citing KSEB projections. “During the monsoon months of 2024-25 and 2025-26, the expected power shortage is about 300 MW only during peak hours. However, after the withdrawal of monsoons, from December to May of the 2024-25 and 2025-26 fiscals, the power shortages may increase up to 1500 MW,” it said.
Earlier, the KSEB had approached the commission seeking approval for certain ‘deviations’ from the Standard Bidding Document issued by the Union Power Ministry for procuring the 300 MW. This supply is for covering the demand during a 30-month period lasting from January 2024 to June 2026.
According to the 20th Electric Power Survey of India, Kerala’s anticipated energy requirement and peak demand would rise to 32,810 million units (mu) and 5501 MW respectively in 2024-25 and 36,881 mu and 6166 MW in 2026-27.
The current northeast monsoon season has so far provided 25% excess rainfall for Kerala, but storage in the hydel reservoirs managed by the KSEB is the second lowest since 2016-17. On December 8, the reservoirs were 68% full, with storage equivalent to 2,818.68 mu, load despatch centre data show. On the same day last year, it stood at 3,211.99 mu and in 3,903.07 mu in 2021.
