Monsoon season power crisis: Power curbs likely to continue in Kerala
Kerala is facing a significant power crisis due to a weak monsoon and increased electricity demand, leading to scheduled power curbs. The state is struggling with low reservoir levels and a supply deficit that has forced the government to implement load shedding.
Why it matters
This highlights the vulnerability of regions heavily dependent on hydropower to climate-linked weather patterns and the challenges of managing energy security during peak demand.
Indications are that the after-6 p.m. power curbs in Kerala are likely to continue in the face of a weak southwest monsoon and the increase in electricity demand felt nationwide.
Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph said that the State is currently facing a 500 MW to 600 MW deficit in availability. The Minister attributed the present crisis to a combination of factors, including a spike in demand during July, low storage in the reservoirs of the State’s hydroelectric projects on account of the weak monsoon and a nationwide spurt in electricity demand triggered by the El Nino-linked warm temperatures.
While the State’s Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government says the curbs are on a “limited scale,” complaints about multiple unscheduled loadsheddings lasting 15 minutes to one hour also have arisen.
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