Officials from the Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited (MahaGenco) said they had exhausted the 67.5 TMC quota of water. The dam located on the cusp of Western Maharashtra and the Konkan has a 98 TMC capacity.
In what may queer the pitch for Maharashtra in the summers, the crucial Koyna hydro-electric project which helps meet its electricity demand during a supply crunch, has run out of water allocated to it for power generation.
Officials from the Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited (MahaGenco) said they had exhausted the 67.5 TMC quota of water. The dam located on the cusp of Western Maharashtra and the Konkan has a 98 TMC capacity.
The MahaGenco has a 2,585 MW installed hydro-power capacity, of which the Koyna plant accounts for a lion's share at 1,956 MW. Hydro electricity is used to meet the gap between demand and supply of power and officials admitted that lack of water may worsen the situation.
"We have run out of water allocated to us for power generation," the official said, adding they had used 67.541 TMC as against the 67.5 TMC quota. "We have used 0.041 TMC extra water. However, in August, we were forced to utilise 1.387 TMC for flood control and hence, the MahaGenco is seeking that the state irrigation department not consider this as part of the allocated quota. If this happens, we will have around 1.346 TMC available for power generation," he explained.
This 1.346 TMC water can be used to generate 59.439 million units (MUs) energy.
The 67.5 TMC limit has been imposed by the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal.
Last week, the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MahaVitaran) had started power cuts as the power shortage touched 4,000 MW due to a rise in demand and a fall in supply due to outages in generation sets. The non-availability of water at the Koyna project will queer the pitch, admitted MahaGenco officials.
A senior MahaGenco official admitted that the situation was critical. "We use the Koyna project to meet the peak demand and for system security," he said, adding that any hindrance in generation at the other power stations could translate into power cuts.
MahaVitaran officials said they were able to meet Wednesday's 18,770 MW demand, but admitted that in case of any outages at thermal power sets, they would have to resort to load-shedding.
Analysis
The MahaGenco's 710 MW thermal power capacity is facing outage including a 500 MW unit at Chandrapur and 250 MW at Koradi.
This is in addition to the 400 MW planned outages in the central sector generation utilities which meet 40 per cent of the state's demand.
The annual demand of power in Maharashtra is increasing by around 10 to 15 per cent.
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