Agricultural consumers are spared from load shedding as MahaVitaran is drawing 2,000 MW from power exchanges
However, ‘’temporary’’ load shedding is unavoidable due to coal and gas shortages and rising demand
Mumbai: Even though energy minister Nitin Raut said load shedding in Maharashtra is unavoidable, the consumers of the state electricity distribution company Mahavitaran on Saturday received a ‘’sweet’’ shock as they did not face any load shedding. It was a major relief for the consumers who are struggling to weather the hot wave as due to weekend the MahaVitaran was able to meet the day’s demand.
Raut said load shedding had become unavoidable due to a shortage of coal and insufficient gas supply.
Raut said the MahaVitaran since the last two days has spared agricultural consumers from load shedding despite rising power demand and a deficit of nearly 4,700 MW. The MahaVitaran is purchasing 2,000 MW from power exchanges to provide an uninterrupted power supply of 8 hours each during day and night to the agricultural consumers. ‘’Agriculture users are being provided eight hours of electricity during day time and eight hours during the night daily without interruption," added Raut.
Raut has instructed the MahaVitaran, with a consumer base of 3 crore, to expeditiously take necessary measures in order to avoid ‘’temporary’’ load shedding in the state, said MahaVitaran chief spokesman Anil Kamble in a statement.
Further, the MahaVitaran has asked the state power generation company MahaGenco to generate maximum power. Ironically, the MahaGenco with its installed thermal generation capacity of 9,330 MW is struggling to get adequate coal supply from Coal India and its subsidiaries. Against the requirement of 1,38,710 tonnes of coal for these plants to operate at the plant load factor of 85%, they have received 1,24,686 tonnes. MahaGenco could supply 7,200 MW during peak hours and if the coal supply improves it would continue to generate more especially during peak hours.
