2 days ago
1
Mere weeks aft Kerala emerged from the grips of a summertime powerfulness crisis, the State Electricity Regulatory Commission has pulled up the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) for not taking immoderate “serious effort to tackle the emerging powerfulness situation” successful the State. The disapproval has travel successful the Commission’s bid dated May 21 connected the truing-up of accounts of the KSEB for the 2024-25 fiscal.
The Commission, headed by T.K. Jose, has recovered responsibility with the KSEB for its nonaccomplishment to accommodate the accrued daytime star powerfulness penetration successful the grid portion continuing to walk exorbitant sums connected short-term powerfulness purchases to conscionable the higher request during the evening hours.
Detailed study
The Commission has directed the KSEB to transportation retired a elaborate study, if required with the assistance of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), to gully up strategies to grip the emerging powerfulness situation. The powerfulness inferior is required to taxable the survey study to the Commission wrong 3 months.
Even during utmost summer, the mean daytime request successful Kerala is astir 3,500 megawatts (MW), whereas the mean highest request -- betwixt 9.30 p.m. and midnight -- is supra 5,500 MW (about 160% of the daytime demand), the Commission observed. This imbalance is apt to summation further arsenic much star plants travel up successful the State connected the spot of assorted incentive/subsidy schemes notified by the Central authorities including the PM Surya Ghar Yojana, it said.
Viable alternatives
The Commission has directed the KSEB absorption to taxable viable alternatives for capableness summation successful powerfulness generation, including pumped retention projects (PSP) and artillery vigor retention systems (BESS) for gathering the highest demand. “KSEB cannot proceed to simply blasted the rooftop star capableness summation arsenic user information successful renewable integration is simply a argumentation imperative. Hence, the contiguous concern whitethorn go much terrible if capable steps are not taken to grip the situation,” it said.
On ongoing BESS projects, the Commission’s bid observed that the vigor availability and peak-hour enactment from the projects projected astatine Mylatti successful Kasaragod and astatine 4 KSEB sub-stations crossed the State “is precise constricted and lone a meagre information of the highest request shortage of the State tin beryllium met” done them. The Commission has besides directed the KSEB to found an interior mechanics to transportation retired a “realistic, category-wise” energy request forecast for the abbreviated and agelong terms.
