24x7 power: Demand up 500 MW on Day 1

Electricity demand increased by 500 MW on Tuesday, the first day the state government began supplying 24x7 power to the agriculture sector.

The demand was stated to be low because agricultural operations had not started in earnest.

On the directions of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, TS Transco began supplying 24-hour power to agriculture sector across the state from midnight on Monday.

To assess the demand from the farm sector, the government had decided to supply 24x7 power for a period of five to six days.

The state has 23 lakh agriculture pump sets with 5 HP motors. Transco director (projects and grid operation) G. Narasing Rao told this newspaper the power demand was 7,200 MW on Monday, which reached around 7,800 MW on Tuesday. He said the demand would be more when Rabi operations begins.

According to the calculations of the energy department if all the 23 lakh motors used at a time it will require about 8,250 MW. The department assumes that half the motors will be used simultaneously, resulting in a power demand of 4,125 MW.

According to estimates, the power demand would range between 1,500 MW and 2,000 MW based on the consumption under the nine-hour supply scheme that is currently supplied to farmers in Telangana state.