As expected, the consumption of energy in the State is on a steady increase along with the rising mercury level and it has clocked a record 260.98 million units (MU) on Friday with the agriculture and domestic sectors pulling up the demand.
The day also witnessed the highest ever peak load of power on the transmission system in the State when it touched 13,452 megawatt at 8.31 a.m. on Friday, surpassing the previous peak load of 13,252 MW recorded on January 30. The previous highest energy consumption was recorded on March 18 last year, when it clocked at 256.18 MU. On February 25 (Thursday) the consumption came close to the previous record but remained at 256.04 MU.
According to officials of the Transmission Corporation of Telangana Ltd (TSTransco), both the peak load of power on the system and energy consumption are expected to go up further during March, when the demand for energy from the agriculture sector including lifting of water for irrigation is expected to peak. “Coupled with the increase in the domestic sector demand, the peak load is likely to cross 14,000 during the summer season and we are prepared to meet such a demand,” a senior executive of the power utility said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Cultivation of agriculture and horticulture (non-plantation) has been taken up in a record-breaking 68 lakh acres this Rabi season and the energy demand from the sector is estimated to cross all previous records, although there is no mechanism to quantify the consumption exactly, as water-intensive paddy has been cultivated in about 50.6 lakh acres, followed by irrigated dry crops maize in 4.29 lakh acres and groundnut in 2.62 lakh acres, in addition to all horticulture crops.
The Transco officials have explained that both the peak load of power and the energy consumption have been on a steady rise this month. It is reflected in the fact that against the peak load crossing the 13,000 MW mark only thrice (all in February 2020) in 2019-20, it has gone beyond the mark on 11 occasions so far in 2020-21 including on seven days this February, they stated. Of the total daily consumption of energy, about 15% is being met from the renewable energy sources and it is likely to go up little further with the increasing sunshine, the Transco officials explained.