Minister for Energy Dilip Walse Patil on Wednesday said the power cut would continue for the next four months — that is at least till May.
Winter or summer, there will be no respite from load-shedding. Minister for Energy Dilip Walse Patil on Wednesday said the power cut would continue for the next four months — that is at least till May.
The State has many reasons though. Take it from the minister: “The surplus crop production coupled with good rainfall (water availability) has raised the demand for more power across rural Maharashtra. Except for Mumbai, where power supply is through Tata and Reliance, the rest of the state, including city suburbs, will have to live with load shedding for next four months.”
Though Mumbai is still unaffected by the power shortage, rest of the Maharashtra is facing load-shedding for as many as 12 hours a day. The state daily faces a shortage of nearly 5700 MW, which till recently has been 4500 MW. Patil said the state would get additional energy of nearly 2200 MW from various projects till June-end. The state has revised its load-shedding plans with 10 various options, which will be submitted to MERC, the regulating authority in the state for its approval.
“Supply from Tata U-51 could not be activated yesterday apart from non- supply of 340 MW from the Dabhol project for the last eight days. This is the reason the supply has gone down in last few days,” Patil said.
An Energy department source seeking anonymity said, working days will be reduced to five days a week in industrial areas. “This will happen for next few months only,” the officials said.“The power supplied by Tata, which is about 500 MW, will be activated in the next few days. At least 700 MW will be generated till the end of May and 1400 MW from the Dabhol project till the end of June. Apart from this, energy from Kawas and Paras will make us reach 2280 MW,” Patil said.
AB Pande, MD, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDC), the company responsible for distribution of electricity in the state, said they were going for two more energy-generation projects. “Dhopave with 1600 MW capacity and Uran with 1040 MW capacity will be undertaken to cope up with the increasing demand.”
MSEDC has started implementing additional load-shedding through out the state. “In some areas, the power cut has gone up by an hour while other urban areas and agriculture areas will have to face two additional hours,” Pande said.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}