Keralam CM warns State to brace for rising heat, surging power demand as El Niño effect set to worsen

Keralam Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan has urged the State to brace for a looming power crisis as the El Niño factor exacerbates global climate change. He said Keralam could face relatively high temperatures and, correspondingly, an upwardly spiralling power demand that the State would struggle to meet from October. 

Mr Satheesan set a one-week deadline for the government to mitigate the current power crisis bedevilling the State. However, he stressed the need for long-term strategic planning to transform Keralam into a power-surplus State. He was speaking to reporters after chairing a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Mr Satheesan identified climate-change-spurred unprecedented heat, surging power demand driven by the rise of electric vehicles and air conditioners, depleted hydel storage levels from a weak monsoon, and a national power-generation deficit as drivers of the current crisis. “Air conditioners have ceased to be a luxury in Keralam and have become an inevitably essential commodity, given the worsening global warming and the State’s ageing population”, he added. 

He blamed the LDF government’s “unthoughtful scrapping” of the “fiscally advantageous” long-term power purchase agreement signed by the Oommen Chandy-led UDF government with private power suppliers to ward off future shortages in 2011 for precipitating the situation. Mr Satheesan said prosumers in Keralam produced a significant amount of renewable energy, chiefly from solar. 

“Nevertheless, the previous LDF government failed to build sufficient storage capacity to harness the full potential of solar power. The UDF will redeem the LDF’s mistake. It will build surplus storage capacity in the years so the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) can draw from batteries to meet demand when it peaks during the night hours”, he said. 

Mr Satheesan said new hydel projects were not environmentally or financially viable for Keralam. “Renewable energy backed by commensurate storage capacity is Keralam’s panacea for green power. The UDF will enlist the private sector for boosting Kerala’s power generation efforts. However, the government has no plans to privatise the KSEB, which will remain a public utility”, Mr Satheesan added. 

Mr Satheesan said that Keralam’s demand for uninterrupted, high-quality power would spiral upwards as the UDF government moved to exploit the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence, including data centres and electronic chip design and production, with the help of global private investment. 

Mr Satheesan said the government was negotiating a long-term power purchase agreement with various States, as well as the country’s thermal and nuclear power generation behemoths in the public sector. 

“Unlike neighbouring States, including Tamil Nadu, the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission limits the cost at which States could buy power from private and public sector suppliers, including States like Odisha and Himachal Pradesh”, he said. 

Mr Satheesan said the power crisis was not unique to Kerala. “Even BJP-ruled States, which have the Central government’s unvarnished fiscal and administrative support, are plagued by power shortages due to a deficit in production and surge in demand”, he added.