Thanks to rain, 25 per cent fall in power demand in Tamil Nadu
Chennai: Heavy rains lashing many parts of the state and cool sea breeze sweeping the city since Sunday have brought down energy consumption by nearly one fourth.
The rain not only provided respite for public from sweltering heat but relief to Tangedco as well. The state's daily energy consumption has come down by 23 per cent to 228 million units on Tuesday from 297 MUs on Sunday. On Saturday, the state’s energy consumption stood at 322 MUs.
A senior Tangedco official attributed the drastic fall in energy consumption to reduction in the air conditioners usage due to prevailing cooler weather condition. “If it rains, residential power consumers will not use air conditioners at home,” the official said, adding that agricultural load has fallen due to less usage of motors pump sets for irrigation purpose following widespread rain in the last few days. “This also helps us save power from the agricultural sector,” an official said. It is a short-term relief, the power demand will go up once the rain stops, the official added. Due to fall in power demand, the official said, the thermal units are being operated at minimum level.
Meanwhile, parts of city, Mylapore, Adyar, Besant Nagar, Guindy, Taramani and Chrompet areas witnessed power outages for nearly an hour on Wednesday evening due to snags in the substations. The tripping of auto transformer in the 756 kv Kalivanthupattu sub station led to power outage in parts of South Chennai for over an hour. In Chrompet and adjoining areas, the power cut was witnessed for about an hour after a feeder line between Kadaperi and Radha Nagar substations snapped. In Nanganallur, the snapping of overhead cables due to falling tree branches resulted in power cut in the Morning over two hours.
However, the senior official said after the massive floods witnessed in the city in December last year, the pillar boxes in the low-lying areas were raised by three feet to avoid unnecessary precautionary power cuts during the rain. “We have raised the pillar boxes which usually gets submerged under water across the city, particularly in Villivakkam’s Sidco Nagar, Pulianthope, Anna Nagar and Choolaimedu,” the official said.