Ensure 24x7 reliable power supply to the people of Goa
Over the past 15 years, India's electricity sector has observed exponential growth with the power and energy requirement nearly doubling in the period, thanks to rising incomes and improving standards of living. The state of Goa, being no exception, has been witnessing a paradigm shift in terms of the growth of its power sector.
Despite the increase in power consumption, the peak demand has not observed a similar growth trend, thus, clearly pointing towards the importance to look into the reliability of power supply. Intending to address the issues related to maintaining a reliable power supply to the people of the state of Goa, the study was undertaken to look into strategies that would, not only, assist the utility in managing the growing demand via effective load management interventions but also ensure sustainability in the interventions by increasing the green energy within the supply mix.
TERI undertook a comprehensive study which is divided into two work packages, namely evaluating changing demand patterns & identifying measures for load management, and preparing strategies for increasing green power in state's energy mix. The study involved -
- Utility profiling for the Electricity Department of Goa
- System-level load pattern analysis to understand the factors impacting the demand at the system-level
- Forecasting of demand for the future
- Analysis of present supply mix
- Gauging at the challenges faced in maintaining reliable supply and increasing distributed penetration within the state
- Identification of supply-side and demand-side strategies for increasing renewable energy power procurement and effetive load management
Strategies for Greening the Sector and Improving the Reliability of Power Supply
In a bid to identify and address the challenges faced while ensuring 24x7 reliable and affordable power supply to the people of Goa, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) recently conducted a detailed study to identify strategies for ‘Greening the Sector and Improving the Reliability of Power Supply’.
Report Authors: Rishabh Sethi, Narayankumar Sreekumar
The study focuses on (a) identifying strategies for effective load management to cater to the growing demand, and (b) strategies for increasing the share of green power within the supply mix.
The study observes that power demand in Goa has increased steadily over the past six years and is expected to double within the next 15 years. Over the years, per capita consumption of power in the state has also nearly doubled the national average. Despite achieving 100% electrification, various challenges continue to hamper the efforts of the state in ensuring 24x7 reliable electricity supply to all its citizens.
On the supply-side, it is important not only to meet the ever-growing demand for power but also to progressively increase the share of renewable energy (RE) in the generation mix to achieve overall energy security and to also meet the renewable purchase obligation (RPO) as per the target fixed by Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC)from time-to-time.
TERI study identifies various strategies which can help in ensuring a 24x7 reliable power supply to all the consumers within the state. These include:
- Deployment of smart grid technologies for peak load and outage management,
- Promotion of consumer-side demand management interventions,
- Up-gradation & augmentation of transmission and distribution networks, and
- Increasing local generation through renewable energy (RE) sources.