The much-awaited winds have set in, bringing cheer to electricity consumers across the State.
Daily load shedding, which lasted between 10 and 12 hours four months ago, has almost ended now. Thanks to the wind, which has resulted in higher wind energy generation, there was no load shedding on Sunday morning, 198 MW on Monday morning, and 918 MW on Tuesday morning.
Wind energy generation on Tuesday morning was 2,657 MW.
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It was 3,245 MW on Monday evening, 2,656 MW on Monday morning, and 2,990 MW on Sunday evening.
With over 7,000 MW installed wind energy capacity and the winds just setting in, the State is seeing relief from power cuts. Wind energy generation is expected to pick up in the coming weeks and the windy season usually lasts till October.
It is not just the domestic and commercial consumers who are free from power cuts.
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The Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) issued a circular dated May 25, 2013 saying that High Tension (HT) consumers, who have dedicated feeders and have invested in wind mills for captive use, will be exempted from load shedding till September 30 this year.
The circular says that the load shedding exemption is subjected to the grid condition and is only for the current wind generation.
The banked energy will not be taken into account for load shedding exemption.
An official of the Tangedco here told The Hindu on Tuesday that wind energy generation was still low in the morning and hence the corporation had to go in for load shedding in some areas in the morning hours.
While power cuts are almost nil in the urban centres, it is minimum in rural areas.
Wind energy generation may come down when the monsoon sets in.
The HT consumers can go in for purchase (up to the sanctioned load) if there is load shedding.