Though electricity generation is expected to improve in the coming weeks, domestic consumers in the State may have to put up with load shedding for one month.
As per a scheme drawn up by the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO), Chennai will have two hours of load shedding, other urban areas, four hours and rural areas, three hours.
Chennai has been divided into five groups. For the first group, the duration would be from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and for the last, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The schedule will come into force on Monday.
In other parts of the State too a similar arrangement of grouping of areas, urban and rural, has been done, where load shedding begins at 6 a.m. and goes on till 6 p.m.
For the other 12 hours, TANGEDCO will make efforts to maintain supply for the maximum amount of time. In Coimbatore, Hosur, Tirupur and centres of power looms, field officials have been advised to ensure four to six hours of power supply. At the end of December, the supply situation will be reviewed, says an official.
Generation picking up
Even as the authorities are engrossed in demand side management, what has come as a comforting factor to them is that four out of five new units are providing a considerable quantum of power. These five units – two units of 600 megawatt (MW) each at the North Chennai Thermal Power Station; two units of 500 MW each at Vallur (the State’s share being 375 MW from each unit) and one 600 MW unit at Mettur – are supposed to provide 2,550 MW.
Even though none of them has been commissioned, the units had been contributing some amount of power till recently. Coal shortage, a fire and some other snags in recent weeks had hit the State, necessitating the resumption of load shedding.
On Saturday, the State got about 1,350 MW from the four units. Besides, the Kundankulam Nuclear Power Project is generating about 400 MWe, of which 50 per cent is supplied to Tamil Nadu. By Monday, one unit at the Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) is expected to resume production, which means availability of 100 MW. Some units of the Neyveli Lignite Corporation, all contributing around 260 MW, are likely to resume generation by December-end.
