No load shedding despite heat wave

Even a couple of years back, it was unimaginable to think of a sultry April day without any power outage.

As the mercury peaks up with the pre-summer heat from March—the time when ponds almost dry up and rivers run narrow, farmers across the country turn to use electricity heavily for irrigation. This has been invariably triggering load shedding during March to May for the last two decades.

However this year’s story is different: there is no load shedding.

According to the Power Development Board (PDB), power supply now stands at a historic high. It is now supplying around 8300 megawatt of power—a sharp 800MW jump from last year’s corresponding period. And if you compare this figure to the power supply scenario of 2009, one will be impressed. Back then the country could avail just around 3500MW power.

“Power supply situation is so far so good,” said a power board official. “We still cannot generate around 1000MW power due to lack of gas supply. And yet we are able to supply the full demand.”

On Sunday, the PDB supplied 8343MW power.

The recent launching of Summit’s Bibiyana 335MW power plant and addition of some new power plants last year have made it easy for the PDB to produce enough power. Plus, the country is now importing 600MW power from India. Last year this import was 500MW.

“The demand for extra power due to irrigation is around 1800 mw. This demand begins from March and it will drop from late April—ending in mid-May,” the power board official noted.

This means, if the weather is good—the people of the country can expect a good year in terms of power supply.