Riyaz Bhat
Srinagar, Sep 30: Amid ‘unserved energy’ predictions in coming years, Jammu and Kashmir is likely to require more than 4600 Megawatts (MWs) of power other than the planned capacities to meet electricity demands.
According to the official figures, Jammu and Kashmir will likely require 4625 MWs of power in the coming nine years amid the predictions of ‘unserved energy’.
The official documents said, “As J&K is likely to have unserved energy in coming years there is a need to contract non-fossil capacities for meeting energy requirements other than the planned capacities. The additional quantum of capacities required (other than already planned) to be contracted is about 2438 MW from Coal, 1200 MW from solar, 987 MW of DRE till 2034-35.”
It also states that the coal capacity PLF is expected to remain in the range of 46 percent- 81 percent for the years till 2035 (reducing from 81 percent in 2024-25 to 46 percent in 2034-35) ensuring higher absorption of higher renewable energy.
“In the alternate resilient scenario, coal requirement increases by around 287 MW compared to the base case in terminal year 2034-35. The STOA requirement in 2024-25 increases by around 144 MW in case of Alternate Resilient scenario in comparison to the base case,” reads the document.
Besides, the document also states that J&K and Ladakh are likely to have surplus capacity available from April to September (in the range of 230-740 MW for 2027-28) which can be shared with other states.
A day before it was reported that Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh is likely to witness an energy deficit ranging from more than 4,200 Megawatts (MWs) to 10,000 MWs in next ten years. “J&K and Ladakh is likely to witness energy deficit ranging from 4293 MUs to 9929 MUs in different years from 2024-25 to 2034-35 with the existing and planned capacity addition.”
Pertinently, in April this year, it was reported that Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh is likely to witness around 62 percent of share from non-fossil fuel-based capacity in mixed electricity generation by 2034-35.
The news agency had reported that “The share of non-fossil fuel-based capacity in the generation mix is projected to be around 62% by 2034-35 with higher contribution from non-fossil fuel-based capacities in alignment with Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) trajectory.”
