Date:29/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/29/stories/2008102950190100.htm

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More power curbs likely in the State

P. Venugopal

Electricity Minister A.K. Balan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The good spell of rain Kerala received during the past week has not brought any sunshine to the State’s power sector.

The rain bypassed Idukki district, where the State’s major hydroelectric projects are located. While north Kerala as a whole received a battering and most other parts of the State got heavy rainfall, the catchments of big projects such as Idukki and Edamalayar had to content with drizzles.

The southwest monsoon that ended in September had brought nearly 20 per cent deficient inflow to the reservoirs. And October, the month that sets off the northwest monsoon, is coming to a close with a deficit that can touch 40 per cent.

Long-term average for October is inflow worth 920 million units of power. The inflow so far during the month has been 540 million units.

“If the northeast monsoon is going to end the southwest way, we will have no other go but to impose more restrictions on power supply,” Electricity Minister A.K. Balan said on Tuesday.

The weathermen, as of now, see no prospects for rain in another fortnight at least. The cyclonic circulation that had set off the heavy downpour in north Kerala last week has spun away into the Arabian Sea. The depression off the Andhra Pradesh coast in the Bay of Bengal, which showered bounties over south Kerala during the period, has moved far to the northeast. No new rain-bearing system is forecast for the State till mid-November.