KSEB survives worst-ever summer, courtesy August deluge

It is perverse to say this but some good seems to have come of the disastrous August floods that had killed 433 people and messed up the lives of 54 lakh people. Just see how KSEB Limited has weathered, without much of a trouble, perhaps the worst summer in a long time.

The public utility is positioned comfortably despite alarming indicators; high daily consumption, overworked hydel stations and miserably low inflow into reservoirs.

Power gluttons

Daily consumption has been consistently above 80 million units during March and April, a sustained stretch of power gluttony the state has never experienced. (The highest daily consumption recorded was a whopping 88 million units, on April 13. The previous record was 81 MU, scaled on April 30, 2018. The earlier record of 77.65 MU recorded on April 16, 2016, had stood unchallenged for nearly two years.)

The hydel stations were mercilessly overworked, on an average they generated 26-27 million units daily; on a normal year hydel generation during this period is kept below 20 MU.

While water was used up by the hydel stations like there was no tomorrow, the inflow into the reservoirs remained shockingly low; when the outgo from reservoirs is nearly 25 MU daily, the inflow is less than 5 million. In earlier years, this mismatch was sought to be lessened by reducing hydel generation. “However, the consistent high consumption did not allow the KSEB to draw down hydel generation,” a top KSEB official said.

Great April escape

Yet, despite all functional factors loaded against it, the KSEBL has survived April, the hottest month of the year, without any major power drops or even unannounced power curbs. Now that the summer showers have begun, the power utility will find it easier till the monsoon sweeps the south-west coast probably by the last week of May. Even at the peak of this summer, the reservoir level is an encouraging 32 per cent. Even during normal summers, it was usual for the water level in reservoirs to fall below 30 per cent.

Observers credit KSEB's commendable staying power to the copious waters it had collected during August 2018. Between June 1 and August 18, 2018, Kerala experienced the worst ever floods in its history since 1924. During this period, the state received cumulative rainfall that was 42 per cent in excess of the normal average. The heaviest spell of rain was during August 1 to 20, when the state received 771mm of rain.

For instance, take Idukki, the state's largest dam. Though generation in the 780-MW plant has been stepped up considerably this month relative to last April, it still has enough water to generate the same power as last April.

There was a price to pay

Nonetheless, hyper daily consumption has posed some problems for KSEBL. For the first time in a year, it has been forced to depend on costly fuel from Kozhikode Diesel Power Plant during the second half of March. As consumption has shown no signs of letting up, the public utility has once again resorted to nearly a million units of fuel from the Kozhikode plant which charges nearly Rs 6 a unit.

Power vision

Proper planning, too, has helped KSEBL tide over the summer. Power has been contracted from power traders outside the state through both the MoU route (450 MW) and bidding (750 MW). In addition, nearly 75MW will be purchased from traders within the state. And then, there is the 'day ahead' market from where emergency purchases are made.

MoUs have been entered into with two units each of Maithon Power Limited in Jharkhand and Damodar Valley Corporation in West Bengal to purchase 450 MW. Of this, 150MW each are sourced from Maithon's two units at Rs 3.62 per unit. The Damodar Valley power will be relatively costlier, 100MW from one unit at Rs 4.24 per unit, and 50MW from the other for Rs 4.94 per unit. “Still, this is far cheaper than power from diesel and naphtha stations within the state at an exorbitant Rs 6 or Rs 7 a unit,” a top KSEBL official said.

KSEBL has also secured long-term supply of 750MW from independent power producers. Most of these contracts were signed by the end of 2017, and all would expire only by 2040. The IPPs are: Jindal Power Limited (Chhattisgarh), Balco (Chhattisgarh), Jhabua Power Limited (Madhya Pradesh), and Jindal India Thermal Power Limted (Odisha). Jhabua power is the costliest at Rs 4.50 per unit. However, the average cost is a competitive Rs 4.25 per unit.