Chennai: Tamil Nadu Power Minister K. Senthil Balaji on Wednesday said that the state recorded an all time high power demand of 17,705 MW of power on Tuesday, crossing the earlier all time high demand of 17,647 MW on March 10.
The minister, in a Twitter post, said that the state is expecting all time high demand of power in April as the temperature is increasing. He said that the power demand is expected to reach 18,500 MW next month.
Balaji has told media persons that the government has taken measures to meet the high power demand during peak summer months.
The Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Company (Tangedco) will be buying power through short tenders during the peak demand time and the state government has already approached power producers to meet the demand during the days ahead.
The minister had held a high level meeting of officials to discuss the state’s power demands and measures are being taken to meet the demand.
According to the officials of Tangedco, the peak 18,500 MW demand would be met with 8,959 MW from its own thermal and hydropower plants, 4750 MW will be obtained from wind power generation, and 2,752 MW through private purchase under long-term and short-term tenders.
The power utility of Tamil Nadu will get 650 MW of power from other state utilities which it will return during the wind season. Tangedco will get 1,562 MW of power through short-term tenders at a cost of Rs 8.50 per unit for the months of March, April, and May. This would help it avoid purchasing from power exchanges where the power price stands anywhere between Rs 12 and Rs 20 per unit.
–IANS