Telangana power utilities are gearing up for summer challenge

As the energy demand has been going up along with the temperatures for the past couple of weeks, clocking about 221 million units (MU) on Monday, power utilities of Telangana are gearing up to meet the requirement by keeping a tab on increasing consumption.

A review meeting was held by Transmission Corporation of Telangana Ltd (TS-Transco) here on Tuesday and it was assessed that the power demand and maximum load on the system would go beyond 11,000 MW since the consumption by domestic and agriculture sectors was likely to rise. The demand from farm sector is expected to continue for another month, by which the standing rabi (Yasangi) crops would reach the harvesting stage.

Generation plants

The meeting chaired by chairman and managing director of TS-Transco D. Prabhakar Rao was attended by Joint MD C. Srinivasa Rao, and directors B. Narsinga Rao, T. Jagath Reddy, G. Narsing Rao and J. Surya Prakash. It was decided to run the generation plants in the State with as much plant load factor as possible and also to procure energy shortfall even after the contracted supply from long-term and short-term agreements since the demand is expected to be above 200 MU till the completion of rabi cultivation.

Mr. Prabhakar Rao asked the directors to review the plant-wise generation on regular basis and assess the demand distribution company-wise. Officials explained that the daily average energy consumption, which was about 164 MU in 2016-17, had gone up to 179 MU in 2017-18 and it was about 189 MU till November in 2018-19.

At a separate meeting held by Southern Power Distribution Company of Telangana Ltd. (TSSPDCL), its CMD G. Raghuma Reddy asked field officials to handle maintenance of distribution transformers efficiently to avoid any interruption in power supply.

He told them to keep a tab on the maximum load on every transformer and also take care against dumping of waste near transformers and on the premises of sub-stations to prevent accidents.

On the power supply in Hyderabad, he said the maximum demand on the system was recorded at 2,958 MW on May 30 last year and it was expected go beyond 3,300 MW this year.

Stating that 2.6 lakh new service connections were being given every year for the past four years, Mr. Reddy said 12 new sub-stations, 5,000 new transformers and 250 km of transmission lines were added to meet the increasing load.

Interruption in supply

He admitted that there were 37 instances of interruption in power supply in the areas covered under 33 feeders this year due to various reasons.

Director (Operations) J. Srinivasa Reddy told the field officials to avoid inconvenience to students, particularly in examination centres, while taking up maintenance works.