Dark nights ahead, Kashmir’s hydel power generation falls by 76 %
Srinagar, Jan 31 (KNO): Owing to the low water level, the Power Development Department (PDD) is currently able to produce only 24 Megawatts (MWs) of electricity against the total capacity of around 250 MWs from the power plants in Kashmir region.
A top official from Jammu and Kashmir State Power Development Corporation (JKSPDC) informed the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that “From Kashmir power plants, we have a power generation capacity of around 250 MW out of which currently, we are producing only around 60 MW power.”
“In view of low water availability, we are able to produce only 40 MW of power from lower Jhelum in the night hours and 5 MW during the other hours and 15 MW at Kangan,” the official said.
The official further said that from the power plants in Kangan, water was available for only one machine which has a power producing capacity of 150 MW. As of now we are able to produce only around 15 MW of power from Kangan.”
“As of now we are reserving the water to generate power during the peak hours. This is the routine power generation but in upcoming month, we are expecting increase in power generation,” he said.
The official further said, “We are in the middle of lean season and this year it started earlier in comparison to previous years.”
There is a total power generation capacity of around 1200 MW from the power projects of Jammu and Kashmir and 2250 MW from NHPC.
Pertinently, Jammu and Kashmir was facing power generation shortage of nearly 80 % in November and December months.
From across the regions, PDD was generating only 200-260 MW of power from all power projects in Jammu and Kashmir—(KNO)
