Chennai: Tamil Nadu’s recent power shortage has been driven mainly by a drop in wind power generation, Electricity Minister Nirmal Kumar said after a review meeting at the TNEB headquarters.
He noted that wind speeds typically fall in September, leading to reduced wind-based generation. Over the past week, this decline contributed to a supply gap even as demand rose sharply.
According to the minister, the state’s power demand has increased to 19,000 MW this month from 16,000 MW during the same period last year—an additional requirement of about 3,000 MW. To bridge the gap, Tamil Nadu bought 2,000 MW from the external power market last week.
With wind generation falling further, the state planned to procure an additional 1,500 MW, taking total market purchases to 3,500 MW. The average cost is above Rs 20 per unit, he said, adding that long-term contracted purchases would begin from October.
