After losing hopes over hydro-electric power generation this year due to lack of significant inflows to any of the major reservoir in Telangana till August-end, rains from the first week of September have revived the power utility’s plans to generate the cheapest power but also helped it make some revenue from spot sales.
Lack of sufficient inflows into major reservoirs, particularly Srisailam, Nagarjunasagar and Jurala, where the Genco has the generation capacity of 2,240 MW out of its total hydel installed capacity of 2,352 MW, has enabled it to generate only about 46 million units (MU) of energy from April 1 to August 31.
However, flood of water from the first week of September has changed the scenario and helped the power utility generate about 401 MU during the month, mostly at Jurala, although it was taken up to some extent at Srisailam. This apart, officials of TS-Genco stated that about 250 MU of additional energy has been generated in the first 13 days of October. Besides, rains across Telangana during the last couple of weeks have reduced the demand of energy for agriculture sector. As a result, the Genco was able to sell about 150 MU of energy through spot sales in the National Power Exchange and earn a revenue of about ₹ 60 crore. Chairman and Managing Director of TS-Genco D. Prabhakar Rao told The Hindu that lower demand from agriculture sector had enabled them go for some sales, instead of going for back-down in generation of thermal power and also drawing contracted energy. From about 9,000 MW before the rains, the power demand had come down to around 7,000 MW, he explained. We were able to sell about 150 MU energy so far with most of it at an average price of ₹3.80 to ₹3.90 per unit. However, we got the rate of ₹4.80 per unit for 20 MU one day recently,” Mr. Rao stated. With the weathermen giving a forecast of more rains for the next few days and the resultant flood to major projects, the hydel generation is expected to continue further.