GUWAHATI, Oct 1 - As per an assessment made on the basis of the last one decade�s power demand, it is found that the State�s power demand is growing at the rate of 14 per cent per year. It is expected to jump two times more in the next six to seven years, said APDCL CGM (Human Resources Development) and spokesperson Pranab Bora and APDCL OSD to the Chairman Dipankar Dihingia, while addressing a press meet here today.
They apprised the media that the present peak-load-hour (highly power consuming hours between 6pm and 11 pm) power demand of the State is 1550 MW, while its off-peak-load-hour (between 6 am and 6 pm) power demand is 1100 MW. As of today, 1203 is the power availability in the State during the off-peak-load-hour, and hence the APDCL could sell 100 MW of power during this period.
The APDCL is now procuring 90 MW of power during the peak-load-hour from the power exchange as its power availability during this period is 1459 MW as of today. The APDCL receives between 200 MW and 250 MW of power from the Assam Power Generation Corporation Ltd (APGCL), while it receives around 1200 MW from the Central sector power generating units. And this necessitates its procurement of around 90 MW of power from the power exchange, said the APDCL officials.
In most of the places, over 75 per cent power availability is now made possible. On an average, 50 to 80 MW of power, that is 3 per cent to 5 per cent of the total demand, could not be made available due to disruptions in the distribution network.
However, efforts are on to improve the power distribution network and these days the transmission capacity of the APDCL is two times more than the overall power demand of the State. Now power is available for 22 hours in most of the places. But there are some weaknesses and these shortcomings have to be removed to make the distribution network full-proof, they said.
In reply to a question, they said that power generation seems to be a costlier proposition for Assam these days compared to procuring power from the power exchange. While its own generation units are supplying power at the average rate of around Rs 4.50 per unit, it could purchase power from the exchange at the rate of around Rs 3 per unit.
Thus the APDCL spent only Rs 35 lakh on procuring power from the power exchange in September this year, said the APDCL officials.