Deficit rain leads to power crisis in Asom

Guwahati, Oct 20: Deficit rainfall has led to a serious power crisis in Asom even as the government drew flak for failing to prepare for the crisis.

The state had been reeling under long hours of power-cut for the past weeks with the Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) failing to meet the demand. The state is heavily dependant on hydropower plants.

State Power Minister Pradyut Bordoloi had admitted that the power situation was grim at present and the government was studying the feasibility of buying power from other sources.

The demand at the peak hours is about 750 MW, of which the ASEB was in a position to generate only about 100 MW. It is dependent on other sources, like the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO), to meet the demand.

However, due to drought-like situation in the state, power generation had come down tremendously with the result that the state now faced a deficit of around 150 MW power at peak hours.

An ASEB source said the production level had come down drastically this year as shortage of rainfall had hit all the hydropower states in the state hard, particularly those of the NEEPCO.

One unit of the Kopili power station had to take a shut down, while most other hydropower stations were forced to take shutdowns during the off peak period because of shortage of water, the source added.

UNI