Thiruvananthapuram: Power minister Sunny Joseph informed the assembly that Kerala would focus on setting up the proposed battery energy storage system (BESS) units in a time-bound manner to competitively address the peak-hour power shortage. A weak monsoon and a substantial slump in supply from central generating stations accentuated the power crisis, forcing KSEB to engage in intermittent load-shedding, he said.In a statement placed in the House under Rule 300, Joseph outlined the power situation in the state and the factors that contributed to it.A large gap between availability and demand necessitated power restrictions, he said. Due to rain deficit, inflow into the state’s storage dams has significantly decreased. As atmospheric temperature remains high, power consumption has increased considerably. KSEB has also reported that due to El Nino phenomenon in Pacific Ocean and the subsequent rise in atmospheric temperature, there isa massive shortage in availability of power across the country.A daily average demand of 4, 100MW was expected, but at times it rises to 4, 900MW. Even when 1, 700MW is generated internally and 1, 701MW and 612MW are received from central generating stations and through long-term agreements, respectively, there is still a shortage of 900MW, the minister said.To meet the demand this summer, power was borrowed from other states (Swap Import) in March and April, agreeing to return it from June 16 to Sept 6 — 6.58 million units (MU) daily.“Currently, since the inflow into dams is very low, water storage is only 870 MU (21%) compared to 2,475 MU (59%) the same time last year,” Joseph said.The state’s current daily average consumption is 88-90MU, of which only 15-16MU is generated internally daily, with the rest purchased from outside. Since the state relies mostly on hydroelectricity, power generation varies from year to year, depending on rain. The current installed capacity of hydroelectric production is 2, 196MW. Over the last decade, an increase of only 150. 64MW in total could be achieved in internal production through hydroelectric projects, which is merely 6.8% of the installed capacity of hydroelectricity in the state.
