Power Demand And Consumption Hit Record Levels

Power demand and consumption hit record levels

BANGKOK: -- Temperatures in Thailand during this summer have hovered in the upper 30s with cities as diverse as Bangkok, Kanchanaburi in the West, Nakhon Ratchasima in the Northeast and Nakhon Sawan in the North having experienced 38-39 degree Celsius.

The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) said on Thursday that temperatures are approaching 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), leading to a surge in power demand and consumption to peak this week.

EGAT reported that the country's total demand for power jumped to its peak at 21,064 megawatts at 01:30 p.m. on May 4, hitting its new highest record level from its previous peak of 20,744.8 on March 28.

The country's total consumption of power also reached a new peak of 433.7 million units on May 3, from the previous peak of 431.4 million on May 6 last year.

The increased demand for and consumption of power were due to the warmer weather over the past week, especially in the afternoons, said the EGAT report.

Domestic power demand will rise by around 300 megawatts for every one degree Celsius increase in temperature, according to the EGAT report.

EGAT estimated, however, that demand for and consumption of power during the three public holidays--from May 5-7--would drop by 5 per cent from the average daily demand of 21,000 megawatts.

The national power agency urged households and business firms to continue to help conserve energy consumption, but assured that there would be no power shortage as EGAT had set up a power reserve system of at least 4,000 megawatts, or around 20 per cent of Thailand's annually-projected power consumption, to serve the public demand sufficiently.

--TNA 2006-05-05