Continuous rainfall received by Gujarat in the last few days has led to a major drop in the power demand in the State, Energy Minister Saurabh Patel said today.
The power demand, which had risen to a record peak time figure, came down by over 5,000 MW on account of recent downpour, he said.
"The total consumption of electricity, which was around 14,800 MW in the middle of this month, has now dropped to around 9,500 MW," said Patel, who also holds the finance portfolio.
According to Patel, it (14,800 MW) was the highest demand for power recorded in the State after delay in the arrival of monsoon.
The state had not received much rainfall since June- end and intense heat had resulted in high power consumption in the following days, he said.
However, things have improved after the latest round of rainfall in almost all parts of Gujarat. Due to this, there has been a sharp decline in power demand from the agriculture sector, the Minister maintained.
"Demand from the agriculture sector has dipped to about 5 million units (MU) per day, which had gone up to 85 MU on account of delayed rains as farmers were using more power to draw water for irrigation. The demand could have shot up to 90 MU if rains had not arrived in the past few days."
In spite of the sharp rise in demand, the power surplus state did not experience problem of capacity shortage.
"We are generating adequate power and coping with the demand," Patel asserted, adding despite good rainfall, the farmers will continue to get 10 hours of power supply as decided earlier.
The government increased the power supply from 8 hours to 10 hours a day for farmers from this month, he added.
Currently, the installed electricity capacity in the state (including conventional and renewable sources) is 26,544 MW.
