Summer Heat: AP Sees Highest Demand for Power at 15,016mw
AC use drives a spike; state buys costly power to meet rising peak demand
Vijayawada: With a steep rise in the summer heat, Andhra Pradesh has registered the peak electricity demand at 15,016MW by Thursday afternoon against a peak demand of 14,358MW on Wednesday, showing a rise of 658MW in a day.
Energy authorities attribute the sharp rise in demand mainly to usage of air-conditioners and air-coolers.
The steep rise in demand forced the authorities to purchase power from other sources at a cost of Rs 2 to Rs 3 per unit.
There will not be more demand for power in the afternoon, unlike the peak demand period of evening time where there will be a lot of usage for power by both residential and commercial establishments.
On May 20, AP recorded the highest energy consumption at 278.91 million units when the peak demand touched 14,358mw.
As the peak demand rose further up to 15,061mw on Thursday, the higher energy consumption to go up further compared with Wednesday, and the total consumption of units of power in the day will be available at 12:01 am on Friday.
Earlier, AP recorded the highest energy consumption at 274.6mu with peak power demand touching 14,011mw on March 7. Since then, the demand started rising from Wednesday.
AP grid director AKV Bhaskar said, “As we have sources of power from hydel, thermal, wind and solar plants, we are able to manage the rising demand for power with available resources. On Wednesday, we purchased power during the evening peak period from external sources at `10 per unit. Thursday afternoon, we purchased power for Rs 2 to Rs 3 per unit. We are expecting the demand to rise further in the next three more days amid warnings that the temperatures could rise further in several parts of the state.”
The huge demand for power due to a rise in temperature is also having its impact on the energy infrastructure with 33kv and 11kv lines getting affected. In some cases, transformers and overhead transmission lines are also getting severely affected, disrupting the power supply locally.
APEPDCL chairman-cum-managing director Prudhvi Tej said, “We are having some issues with the overhead transmission lines due to a huge rise in demand for power. We are attending to the power disruptions by restoring the power lines immediately to avoid any trouble to the people.”
