There has been a decline in power generation at Tuticorin Thermal Power Station (TTPS) because of the prevailing cold weather in parts of Tamil Nadu in the wake of monsoon. The atmosphere has turned cold in recent days, bringing down electricity consumption.
On a directive from the Load Despatch Centre, TTPS, which has a total of five units with a capacity of 210 MW each, has only two units operational now. The rest of the units are on standby, sources told The Hindu here on Sunday.
While it drizzled for some time in the morning in parts of Thoothukudi, it continues in Tirunelveli since Saturday evening.
The weather was cold and pleasant on Sunday too.
Hence, against a normal demand from 13,500 MW to 14,000 MW daily across the State, power consumption dropped to 11,900 MW on Saturday due to fall in usage. One reason could be the decline in the use of air-condtioners during the last four or five days.
Over the last few days, the power demand has hovered between 10,000 MW and 11,000 MW.
After the delayed onset of the northeast monsoon, wind power generation suffered a drastic fall. Over the last six days, the energy sourced from wind turbines has not crossed 500 MW in the whole of Tamil Nadu.
According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the wind forecast for the coming week is below 500 MW everyday.
Wind power generation could pick up in January next as heavy rains are predicted in November and December in most parts of Tamil Nadu, sources said. The water level in Manimuthar dam increased by 10 ft on a single day following considerable amount of rainfall in the catchment area.
The highest amount of 142 mm rainfall was recorded in Papanasam and in Manimuthar it was 124.2 mm.
