Nagaland, faced with power shortage, resorts to load shedding as temperature soars

Nagaland government on Friday said it was compelled to impose load shedding throughout the state due to shortage of electricity supply and steep increase in its demand following rise in temperature.

The state power department said the situation could further worsen given the fact that one of the units of Palatana power project in Tripura, from where it gets maximum allocation, was scheduled to remain shut from Friday for annual maintenance.

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"As the domestic loads are increasing day by day due to the rise in installations and usage of high power-consuming electrical appliances like air conditioners, refrigerators, water boilers, and rice cookers, the department appeals to our consumers for judicious use of electricity by switching off appliances when not in use," the power department said in a statement.

The load shedding will be done on a rotational basis among Dimapur, Kohima and Mokokchung load centres.

The department said the state's peak hour power demand witnessed a three-fold increase since the 1990s, from 60MW to 180 MW. The state-owned Likimro Hydro Electric Project is generating only around six to 12 MW out of its installed capacity of 24 MW for approximately 12 hours a day due to poor hydrological conditions during the season. "Due to extreme weather conditions during the last few days, there has been a rise in the power demand resulting in the burning of distribution transformers due to overloading especially in Dimapur and adjoining areas."

The hilly Nagaland depends on other states for 90 per cent of its electricity requirement.

Hope on Hydro power

"We anticipate that this power shortage and load-shedding crisis shall repeat every year. The only long-term solution is for a concerted and prioritized effort to reduce this dependency up to the extent possible by developing our own internal Hydro power generation which the department at present is facing some difficulties to overcome," the department said.

The department added that the power situation is likely to improve with the onset of Monsoon.