Riyaz Bhat
Srinagar, Feb 22: Amid apprehension of power shortfall in the months to come in view of less snowfall and water level, Power Development Department (PDD) Saturday said that it has contingency plan to tackle the situation.
Besides, the officials of PDD said that more Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) need to enter in the years to come.
A top official of PDD said, “More PPA needs to enter in the years to come to meet the growing demand.”
“We are making a prospective plan before entering a new PPA in accordance with the estimated power demands,” the official said.
The official further said, “PPAs are to be taken a year or two before so that the plan is prepared in advance.”
On asking about the apprehensions of power generation shortfall in view of less snowfall and low water level, the official said, “The government always takes backup measures to meet the power demand.”
“In case if there is a shortfall of power generation in peak time in view of low water level, the government always plans some sort of measures to tackle it,” the official said.
Pertinently, it was earlier reported that in the past one month, the hydel power generation from the power plants across Jammu and Kashmir has further reduced by five percent owing to the less snowfall and low water levels.
Overall, the hydro power generation from the local plants in Jammu and Kashmir has reduced by 84.17 percent.
In the month of January, the Power Development Department (PDD) was generating nearly 250 Megawatts of power from the local hydel projects that amounts to 20 percent of the total generation capacity. However, in the ongoing month, the power generation has further reduced by five percent.
“However, the power generation has further decreased with the officials saying that the department was able to generate only 190 MWs of power in the ongoing month,” the official said.
Besides, the authorities have said that Jammu and Kashmir may face 29 percent of ‘forced load shedding’ of annual power in the year 2034-35.
Besides, it has further projected that in the coming ten years, the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of power demand is likely to increase by more than four percent in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
