The Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) has approved Tangedco’s plan for procurement of power through short-term agreements at a cost ₹2,754.93 crore from March-May 2024, to meet the summer demand. However, the state power regulator told Tangedco to mull ways to reduce purchase of power at high cost.
Tamil Nadu has the highest power demand among the southern States. It logged an all-time high demand of 20,830 MW on May 2. In a slew of petitions, Tangedco had sought approval to procure 3,285.885 million units from March-May 2024.
In its petitions, Tangedco said it is meeting the demand from 15,197 MW of installed capacity of conventional sources and the net availability will be 12,917 MW and sought nod to procure round the clock power and peak hour power to meet the shortfall.
TNERC noted that it had given nod for procurement of power under short term open access (STOA) for a total quantum of 885.65 MU at a total cost of ₹316.83 crore. Against this, Tangedco’s quantum and cost of procurement during the months March 24 to May 24 is more than 3 times and 8 times, it noted.
TNERC said this may lead to an increase in the revenue gap and ultimately the burden would fall on the consumers. It directed Tangedco to strictly chart out its Resources Adequacy Plan in a professional manner to avoid / minimise purchase of power through STOA and exchanges at high costs. High cost power purchase shall be reduced to the extent possible by making sincere efforts to complete the pending projects in time, TNERC said.
The upcoming projects are getting delayed and have not come as expected due to various reasons. The Commission also recently reviewed the progress of various projects that are envisaged to meet the demand and suggested actions to be taken to expedite these projects, it added.
In order to reduce the power purchase cost, steps should be taken to expedite the commissioning of all ongoing conventional and renewable energy projects on priority, the TNERC said. Necessary steps to promote Battery Energy Storage System on priority, besides pumped storage plants, it said.
Distributed Renewable Energy Resources like Rooftop Solar, PM KUSUM shall be pursued on priority as it would not need any evacuation system. It would also reduce the cost of supply for the Tangedco, TNERC said. Tangedco should take steps to resolve the issues which are currently delaying the solar-based Projects, it added and sought for furnishing a quarterly status report on its directives.
