Telangana has become the third State in the South to handle over 14,000 mega watt of load on power transmission system on Tuesday, when it clocked 14,160 MW at 1,228 hours surpassing the previous highest of 13,854 MW recorded on Monday.
As the post-noon (mid-day) mercury levels are on the rise in Telangana for the last few days, the peak load on the power transmission system, utilisation of maximum power at an intra-day point of time, has broken the 14,000 MW barrier and it is likely to continue for the next few days in the wake of the Met Department forecast of severe heatwave conditions.
According to TS-Transco authorities, the peak load on the system had crossed the 14,000 MW mark in March 2016 in Tamil Nadu and in March 2021 in Karnataka. This March, Telangana is the second State in the South to handle over 14,000 MW with Tamil Nadu ahead with over 17,000 MW load handling.
Increased demand from agri sector
When contacted, Chairman and Managing Director of Transmission Corporation of Telangana Ltd D. Prabhakar Rao told The Hindu that an analysis conducted by them had indicated that the increase in the peak load was due to the increased demand from the agriculture sector. He stated that consumption of groundwater across the State and pumping of water from canals by farmers, who do not get canal water, was adding to the load on the system.
As such the consumption of agriculture sector was much higher compared to the industrial, commercial and domestic categories this Rabi farm season, according to the analysis done by the utility. The consumption by agriculture sector was higher in spite of the fact that the cultivation of paddy has come down by about 16.5 lakh acres this Rabi season compared to the last Rabi. Cultivation of crops for the season is over 13 lakh acres lesser compared to the last year’s Rabi.
“Our analysis on load on the system has also indicated that consumption of power for air-conditioning purposes is lesser so far this summer, compared to previous years. Increase in temperature by 1 degree Celsius would add a load of 245 MW both on the generation and transmission systems”, Mr. Prabhakar Rao explained, adding that they were ready to handle the demand even up to 16,000 MW.
But for most of the IT companies allowing their work force to work from home and some operating on the hybrid system of work from home and office both, the consumption of energy and peak load on the system would have been much higher this season, authorities of Southern Discom (TSSPDCL) said.
