With the June-September southwest (SW) monsoon proving to be a disappointment, the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) is pinning its hopes on the northeast monsoon rainfall to improve the storage in hydel reservoirs ahead of the 2024 summer.
Storage in the reservoirs managed by the KSEB registered an 8% increase between October 1 and 14, courtesy the current strong post-southwest monsoon spell.
That said, the storage is still the lowest since 2016-17. It stood at 56% of the capacity — equivalent to 2,327.42 million units (mu) — on October 14 as against the 3,380.07 mu the same day last year. The reservoir of the 780 MW Idukki hydel project has 45% storage.
The northeast monsoon is expected to set in over Kerala by the third week of October.
The KSEB is hoping that this year’s northeast monsoon, expected to bring above normal rainfall for Kerala, would help replenish the storage.
The SW monsoon had signed off with a 34% deficit. At the same time, the KSEB cannot expect too much from the October-December northeast monsoon which accounts for only 20% of the annual rainfall received by the State.
While the cool weather brought by the rain is keeping energy consumption at manageable levels, over 70% of the demand continues to be met through imports.
