As copious rainfall continues in the catchments of the hydel reservoirs, the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has stepped up generation of hydro power to avoid spill-over of the water flowing into the reservoirs.
The KSEB has generated an average of 20.5872 million units of power at its hydel stations daily during July so far, against a low level of around 10 million units a day during mid-May when the water level in the reservoirs had touched rock bottom.
On Wednesday, the KSEB generated 21.8169 million units of hydro power. This accounted for 41 per cent of the total demand of 53.0297 million units of energy during the day.
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The KSEB has temporarily stopped drawing expensive electricity from stations running on liquid fuel, since the stepped up generation at the hydro power stations and allocations available from Central power stations and purchases being made from the energy market at competitive rates could now satisfy the overall energy demand in the State.
Close to the brim
The small- and medium-sized hydel reservoirs are close to the brim, or have already touched the brim, according to the statistics maintained by the KSEB’s load despatch centre to monitor the operations of the power sector in the State.
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For instance, Neriamangalam reservoir on Wednesday had 97.35 per cent storage, Poringal 99.82 per cent, Lower Periyar 100 per cent, Kuttiadi 90.11 per cent, Thariode 87.54 per cent, and Ponmudi 96.93 per cent.
The water levels in the large reservoirs too have gone up, though the monsoon season has not yet reached the halfway point. On Wednesday, Idukki reservoir had 55.67 per cent water storage, Pampa/Kakki 59.58 per cent and Idamalayar 66.53 per cent.
According to the KSEB’s system statistics on July 16, water stored in the hydel reservoirs across the State can generate 2,467.219 million units of electricity. The storage is 59.59 per cent of the cumulative capacity of the reservoirs. Last year, when the State experienced the worst monsoon in recent years, the reservoir had storage worth only 680.098 million units of electricity on July 16. The storage position at this point of the monsoon is the best in the last 10 years, the previous best being 2,270.581 units recorded in 2007-08.