The two hours of load shedding a day that started about a week ago in Coimbatore increased to seven hours on Friday.
On Friday, most parts of the city went without power for six-and-a-half to seven hours, including load shedding at night.
In rural areas, the load shedding duration was eight hours.
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Chief Engineer of Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco), Coimbatore, A. Thangavelu, said one of the reasons for the load shedding is the drop in wind energy generation.
From September 2, the Tangedco plans to have three hours of load shedding for industries here that have dedicated feeders.
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It has also drawn up a schedule for load shedding in industrial feeders.
By having a schedule, the industries will know when there will be power and when it will not be available. The wind season is expected to continue for some more days and hence, wind energy generation may revive. Thermal generation is also expected to increase by 1,500 MW soon.
So, the load shedding duration is expected to come down, he said.
Data
According to data available on the web site of Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation, wind energy generation in the State on Saturday morning was just 16 MW and on Friday morning it was 19 MW. About 10 days ago, it was more than 2,000 MW.
R. Ramachandran, president of Coimbatore District Small Industries’ Association, said that the industries have had relief from power cut for just three months.
They had not expected that load shedding would increase to seven hours. Having a schedule for power cut will help the industries. However, in areas such as Ganapathy where there are a large number of units and houses, the power cut should be planned in such a way that the units do not have load shedding when it is done for domestic consumers.
Nearly 60 per cent of the small-scale industries have generator sets.
But, with diesel prices expected to increase it will prove to be a difficult situation.
During the last two years, the industries here have invested about 20 per cent of their turnover in generator sets or other power supply related equipment and have not gone in for expansion or modernisation.
Measures
The Government should take measures that will enable industries improve their efficiency and provide them with financial support, he said.
K. Kathirmathiyon, secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause, says Tangedco should inform consumers the reasons for the increase in power cut, when the generation will improve and the load shedding timing.