For electricity consumers in the district, erratic schedule of load shedding is adding to the problem of long hours of power cut.
The load shedding was back to 12 hours a day on Friday after eight hours a day for the earlier four days. And, adding agony is the lack of a specific schedule. Load shedding in the rural areas is at least an hour more than the city. Officials in the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) here say that wind energy generation has dropped and consumption has increased leading to additional hours of load shedding.
According to data available on the website of Tantransco, wind energy generation on Wednesday (April 10) evening was 1,046 MW while it was just eight MW on Saturday morning (April 13). Load shedding in the State on Saturday morning was to the extent of 2,406 MW while it was just 924 MW on Wednesday evening.
There was hardly any wind energy generation on Saturday. Since, wind energy generation is not consistent, load shedding is also irregular.
However, load shedding can be planned to ensure there is equal hours of power cut across the city. For instance, if wind energy generation picks up in the early morning hours, then the areas that are scheduled for load shedding in the early morning do not have power cut. However, some areas that are scheduled for load shedding in the evening peak hour will have to go without power in the morning and the evening because wind energy generation drops later in the day. This can be adjusted so that there is not much difference in the duration of load shedding across the city, says an official.
