Increased demand of electricity by 31% creates power crisis in Rajasthan

Jaipur: Increased demand for electricity due to hot weather conditions and decreased power generation due to technical faults and shortage of coal has created a power crisis in Rajasthan. The situation is such that the state government has to announce scheduled power cuts of one to six hours each day across the state and rationing of power supply for industries and agriculture.

CM Ashok Gehlot has appealed to people to save electricity and water. "The scorching heat of the month of May-June started in April itself. The whole country is facing a power crisis. Rajasthan is no exception to this. The gap between demand and supply has widened. Electricity is not available for purchase even on Indian Energy Exchange. The state government is also trying its best to for an adequate supply of water. There is an appeal to all of you to make limited and judicious use of electricity and water", tweeted Gehlot on Monday.

According to officials of the power generation company, the electricity demand has increased by 31 per cent in April this year against the corresponding period last year.

"In Rajasthan, the demand last year was 21.31 crore units each day which crossed the figure of 28 crore units in April," said a senior official of the Rajasthan Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited.

Currently, the electricity demand is around 13700 MW a day while the supply is around 12000 MW a day. The average shortfall of supply is around 2000 MW a day.

The demand for electricity has been triggered in the wake of a severe heatwave in the state as well as in the momentum being gathered in economic activities after the third COVID-19 wave.

The state is recording an average maximum temperature of 42-43 degrees Celsius for the last fortnight and at the same time, the industries are running at full capacity expecting a good festival and wedding season after two years.

Apart from increased demand the coal, shortage and technical faults are also a big reason behind the decreased power generation. As per reports, there was a power generation of 10719 million units in the first quarter of 2021 as there was no coal shortage but this year the state is facing a continuous coal shortage and the power generation has decreased by 1829 million units from January to April 23rd.

Although now the state is getting an average of 27 racks of coal every day and the situation of coal supply has improved a little bit but the state will need a good stock of coal looking at the coming monsoon.

Technical faults are also hampering power generation. There are 23 power generation units in the state with a power generation capacity of 7580 MW and 4 of them with a capacity of 1720 MW were shut down due to technical reasons on Sunday.