Riyaz Bhat
Srinagar, Nov 23 : In view of dip in local power generation, the Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Department (PDD) is likely to announce new power curtailment schedule in coming days.
A top official of the PDD said that “Soon we will be announcing the new power curtailment schedule. We are already working on it and most likely we will be announcing the curtailment schedule this week only.”
“Currently, we have availability of 2300-2400 Megawatts for both the Jammu and Kashmir regions. However, the demand is 2500-2600 Megawatts,” the official said.
He said, “We have a number of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) that go for 20-25 years. Besides, we have central allotments as well. There is a regular purchase process.”
The official further said, “We are also receiving the power from the centre from the PPA made in 2023.”
“From across the regions, the total power generation capacity is 1200 Megawatts. However, as of now we are only able to generate a total of 200-260 Megawatts of power from the UT pool,” the official said.
About the ongoing power curtailment, the official had said, “We cut off nearly 200-250 Megawatts during the peak hours. That is a force curtailment. Otherwise we have 38-40 feeders that are working 24 hours.”
The official had also said, “In urban areas, as of now there is a power curtailment of over 6 hours and over eight hours of power curtailment in rural areas.”— (KNO)
