Power Sector: Crisis Deepens

Kerala will be facing severe crisis in power sector in the coming days. The water levels in various reservoirs are falling. The official analysis of the Kerala State Electricity Board, reveals that water in reservoirs are only enough for generating power for 20 days (350 million units). Failure of the southwest monsoon especially in the catchment area of the hydel projects in Kerala caused the inflow of water very low compared to the past few years. The rainfall this year is lowest in the past decade. Water in this time last year was sufficient to generate 1200 million units of electricity. The statistics of water in reservoirs in terms of power generation capability for the last three years is given under.

     2000    :    1,066 m.u.

     1999    :    1,638 m.u. 

     1998    :    1,027 m.u.

The power need of the State is met primarily based on hydel projects in Idukki, Idamalayar and Kallada, which were started decades ago. The daily power consumption of the state is around 33 m.u. Kerala gets 11.4 m.u. from the Central pool. Contribution to the State by the Kayamkulam project is 3.7 m.u. These facts reveal the effect that the power sector will be facing in coming days due the failure of monsoon. The decision of Kerala government to sell electricity to Tamil Nadu from Kayamkulam project will worsen the crisis. Apart from this, BSES's decision to discontinue operation will also affect the sector.
In the light of the deepening crisis, it is essential to think about the utilization of various other power sources including wind, solar energy and mini hydel projects. 
Currently Kerala produces 2.125-mw electricity from wind and 4.72 -kw from solar energy. Even though the governments at Centre and State appointed committees to study the potential of different locations in the State to establish wind energy plants, the move is in conceptual stage only.