The generation and distribution of electricity in Tamil Nadu is the responsibility of the state owned company TNEB Ltd. There are two special purpose subsidiaries of TNEB - TANGEDCO and TANTRANSCO, responsible for generation and transmission respectively. Compared to other big states in India, Tamil Nadu is relatively well governed and there is a broad based acceptance across the political spectrum that predictable availability of electricity is pivotal to the industrial development of the state. This lead to sustained investments in generation and transmission over the past several years and the results are now starting to show.
Several large investments in transmission such as the Green Corridor is in the pipeline along with new capacities coming online in the next few years. So there is a hope that the state's economy is at the threshold of an acceleration of growth led by industry due to predictable availability of electricity - especially to industrial consumers. The recent official announcement of withdrawal of power cuts to industrial users from June 2014 is a step in the right direction.
Granular grid data for Tamil Nadu is available from SRLDC from March 2006 onwards. We will be using this data for the charts in this article.
It can be observed that the electricity usage, which had been relatively stagnant up to 2012, has started to pick up observably starting from the latter part of 2013 as new capacities started coming online - such as new units at North Chennai TPS and Kudankulam APS. The peak power delivered had recently crossed 13,000 MW for several days and I am sure it would become the norm soon. Similarly energy usage is sustained over 250 MU/day.
The following chart, which plots the energy usage year-over-year allows us to better appreciate the quantum jump in energy delivery made in 2014 over previous years.
As we can see, the 2014 trend is substantially over the previous years trends till date. Keep the following points in mind when reading the chart:
Plotting all of this over years as an area chart gives us this:
Please note the following while interpreting the chart:
It is notable that the per-capita electricity consumption for Tamil Nadu is at around 3.52 so far for the calendar year of 2014. This is much better than the average for India (2.02) [6], but have a log way to go to reach the level of China (7.04). But the trend, as they say, is your friend. Except for the dip in 2012 (drought year), the trend is averaging around 5% per year, which is encouraging and I hope this would accelerate in the coming years.
References:
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_Nadu_Electricity_Board (TNEB Ltd.)
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_Nadu_Transmission_Corporation_Limited (TANTRANSCO: Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation)
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_Nadu_Generation_and_Distribution_Corporation_Limited (TANGEDCO: Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation)
[4] http://srldc.org/ (SRLDC) : Grid Data
[5] http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/PPT_2.html (Census of India 2011) : Population data for calculating per-capita electricity consumption
[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_consumption (Country wise per-capita electricity consumption data)
Several large investments in transmission such as the Green Corridor is in the pipeline along with new capacities coming online in the next few years. So there is a hope that the state's economy is at the threshold of an acceleration of growth led by industry due to predictable availability of electricity - especially to industrial consumers. The recent official announcement of withdrawal of power cuts to industrial users from June 2014 is a step in the right direction.
Granular grid data for Tamil Nadu is available from SRLDC from March 2006 onwards. We will be using this data for the charts in this article.
Power and Energy Trends
The following chart plots the daily energy usage (MU, green line, right axis), and two measures of peak power demand (MW, constant time at 19:00 hrs - blue line, and day peak - red line). |
| Tamil Nadu: Peak Power and Supplied Energy 2006 - 2014 (Click for a larger version) |
It can be observed that the electricity usage, which had been relatively stagnant up to 2012, has started to pick up observably starting from the latter part of 2013 as new capacities started coming online - such as new units at North Chennai TPS and Kudankulam APS. The peak power delivered had recently crossed 13,000 MW for several days and I am sure it would become the norm soon. Similarly energy usage is sustained over 250 MU/day.
The following chart, which plots the energy usage year-over-year allows us to better appreciate the quantum jump in energy delivery made in 2014 over previous years.
 |
| Tamil Nadu: Yearly Energy Usage 2006-2014 (Click for a larger version) |
As we can see, the 2014 trend is substantially over the previous years trends till date. Keep the following points in mind when reading the chart:
- The periodic variations are due to weekend drop in demand.
- The big drop in January visible in every year is presumably due to the Pongal festival holidays, when heavy industry is generally shut down.
Energy Sources
In the present scenario, the most important energy source of Tamil Nadu is local thermal power plants, which generate about 70-80 MUs every day and the same amount is drawn daily from the central allocation. Less than 20 MUs are produced by local hydroelectric installations. Although, on water surplus years this can exceed 40 MUs. Gas, Naphtha and Diesel power plants have installed capacity to generate around 50 MUs per day, but ends up generating only about half of it. Wind power has installed capacity of greater than 7000 MW, but generates only about 60-70 MUs per day during wind season - about half of the installed capacity. This is presumably due to the evacuation bottlenecks due to suboptimal transmission network. The Green Corridor investments should alleviate some of these concerns. 'Others' - presumably small producers, solar etc. produce about 30 MUs - not an insignificant amount.Plotting all of this over years as an area chart gives us this:
 |
| Tamil Nadu; Energy Sources Data 2006-2014 (Click for a larger version) |
Please note the following while interpreting the chart:
- Wind energy was categorized under 'others' until around May 2010. That is the reason there is no wind energy plot before 2010 May.
- The seasonality of wind energy and unreliability of hydro power can be easily observed
- The Gas/Naphtha/Diesel plants are apparently used mostly to balance the grid in the absence of other cheap sources of energy such as wind
Per Capita Electricity Usage of Tamil Nadu
Per capita electrical energy usage is a very useful development indicator. For Tamil Nadu, the data is as follows: It is notable that the per-capita electricity consumption for Tamil Nadu is at around 3.52 so far for the calendar year of 2014. This is much better than the average for India (2.02) [6], but have a log way to go to reach the level of China (7.04). But the trend, as they say, is your friend. Except for the dip in 2012 (drought year), the trend is averaging around 5% per year, which is encouraging and I hope this would accelerate in the coming years.
References:
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_Nadu_Electricity_Board (TNEB Ltd.)
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_Nadu_Transmission_Corporation_Limited (TANTRANSCO: Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation)
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_Nadu_Generation_and_Distribution_Corporation_Limited (TANGEDCO: Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation)
[4] http://srldc.org/ (SRLDC) : Grid Data
[5] http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/PPT_2.html (Census of India 2011) : Population data for calculating per-capita electricity consumption
[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_consumption (Country wise per-capita electricity consumption data)
No comments:
Post a Comment