Nagpur: According to a report in a local English daily, the availability of power in Maharashtra to meet the surge in demand in the post-pandemic period continues to be a challenge. As per the projection of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL), the peak demand-supply gap is likely to widen in coming months. Hence, it has sought approval of Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) for procurement of round-the-clock (RTC) power to bridge the gap.
The report said that the MERC has approved MSEDCL’s petition in this regard but for procurement of RTC power up to 1,000 MW only. MSEDCL had filed a petition for approval and adoption of tariff determined through transparent bidding process for procurement of short-term power for October 2022, and March to May 2023, and also for approval for increase in ceiling rate for short-term power purchase at higher cost than the ceiling rate approved by MERC.
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Tuesday 28 Jan. 2025
During the process of hearing, MSEDCL submitted to MERC its projections regarding the peak demand-supply position. As per that submission of MSEDCL, in 2017-18, the peak demand was 19,533 MW as against which the power availability was 19,699 MW. Thus, the supply was one per cent surplus. In 2018-19, the position changed, and demand as well as supply both were at 20,745 MW. The next year, availability increased to 23,492 MW as against demand of 21,570 MW. Thus, the availability was nine per cent surplus, the report stated.
According to officials in the know of things, the supply figure was in surplus largely due to drop in demand due to the onset of COVID-19 pandemic especially in the months of February and March 2020. In 2020-21, demand was 22,554 MW and supply was 22,796 MW, that is, supply was one per cent above the demand. The pandemic was still around. In 2021-22, however, the situation changed. In what came to be known as the post-pandemic scenario, the demand surged to 24,400 MW, as against which generation availability from contracted generating sources was only 22,438 MW, which created a shortfall of 8 per cent (1,962MW ) in meeting the demand.
Similar scenario was observed in April and May 2022, wherein peak demand was around 25,144 MW and generation availability from contracted generating sources was around 22,600 MW, creating a shortfall of around 2,500 MW. In MSEDCL’s own admission, in April 2022, the shortfall was 10 percent, which was ‘the maximum in the last five years.’
