TN declares power holiday to industries from March 1
The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) has announced a power holiday to all industries with effect from March 1, and also announced 40 per cent power cut to all industrial and commercial consumers.
The state is facing a shortage of 3000-4000 Mw. In an announcement today, the board said the demand for power is 11,500 to 12,500 Mw.
Availability from internal generation, share from Central Generating Station and other sources is 8,500 MW. Demand is raising by 10 per cent every year in the State. There is a gap of 3,0004,000 Mw.
There has been no major capacity additions over the last several years.
Moreover, all the projects have been delayed due to various reasons.
To meet the power demand, the ongoing projects Mettur Thermal Power Project Stage III (1 x 600 MW), North Chennai Thermal Power Project Stage II (2 x 600 MW), NTPC Joint Venture Project at Vallur (3 x 500), Koodangulam Atomic Power Project (2 x 1000 MW), NLC TS II expansion (2 x 250 MW) were expected to be made operational this year. However, all the projects have been delayed due to various reasons. Therefore, the gap in the demand-supply has become inevitable.
As the present restrictions and control measures are not sufficient to cover the above gap, TANGEDCO is forced to resort to unscheduled load shedding, in order to ensure grid security, it said.
To address the issue, 40 per cent power will be cut to all industrial and commercial consumers from February 27, Chennai city and suburban areas will see two hours load shedding, other rural and urban areas will see four hours of load shedding.
Evening peak hour (6.00 PM to 10.00 PM) restriction to commercial consumers and power holiday to all industries will be in effect from March 1.
The restrictions and controls will be implemented according to the local needs and will be suitably altered whenever required. Load shedding measures will be revised, depending upon the demand and supply gap, said the release.
This deficit situation is likely to last for few months. From June, with wind generation picking up and power projects becoming functional one after other, it will be possible to relax some of the restrictions and controls by that time, said the board.
TN declares power holiday to industries from March 1
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Tamil Nadu 'power'less; power shortage hurting biz
The industry is literally powerless in Tamil Nadu with the state electricity board (SEB) sunk in debt. With the state falling short of 4000 MW of power, the situation is going from bad to worse, reports CNBC-TV18's Swathi Narayanan.
On September 5, 2011, J Jayalalithaa, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu assured that her government is aware of this issue and they are taking steps on a war footing to improve the power situation. But six months down the line, the CM seems to be powerless in improving the situation.
The demand for power in Tamil Nadu is 11,500-12,500 MW, while the supply is only 8500 MW. That's a deficit of 3000-4000 MW.
The SEB reeling under a debt of over Rs 50,000 crore has been unable to help.
This essentially means that industrial units in Tamil Nadu that have already been facing prolonged power cuts now will have to brace themselves for more. According to the TNSEB, industrial and commercial consumers will face up to 40% higher power cuts in the coming months. Industrial units located outside Chennai are already facing power cuts for up to 8-10 hours in a day. Besides this, all industries will be subjected to a one-day power holiday every week from March 1 onwards.
Obviously, none of this is good for business.
"Our smaller tier-1 and perhaps our tier-2 suppliers are badly getting hit," says V Sumantran, executive vice chairman of Hinduja Automotive. "At a time when typically, this quarter, production is at a peak, we are finding disruptions with many tier-1 and tier- 2 suppliers," he rues.
And no respite can be expected anytime soon. For many years, there has been no serious effort made by the state to increase power capacity - the Koodangulam Nuclear Power Plant for example is in limbo due to safety concerns.
R Chidambaram, principal scientific adviser, Govt of India says, "When Koodankulam plant comes into operation, some 930 MW or something of that order, when both the reactors are operational, it will become available to the people of TN."
It is believed that every third car produced in India is from Tamil Nadu. Over the years, MNCs like Ford, Hyundai and Nokia have set up shop here. The state is also the biggest exporter of textiles and leather products. But if TN wants to maintain its manufacturing reputation, recharging the state electricity board and cutting down huge power outages must be a priority.
Tamil Nadu 'power'less; power shortage hurting biz - CNBC-TV18 -