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BANGALORE, May 3

POWER Grid Corporation of India Ltd has opposed privatisation of transmission networks in the country.

Briefing presspersons here, the PowerGrid Director (Operations), Mr Bhanu Bhusan, said: "Private participation in transmission will serve no effective purpose. Transmission is the link between both generation and distribution. The power sector would be served better by private participation in both these areas only, despite set backs.''

He said that PowerGrid was in the process of enhancing regional transfer of electricity from the current level of 4,850 MW to about 30,000 MW over the next 10 years. For this purpose, the PowerGrid would be adding another 60,000 km of transmission network during the period at a cost of Rs 74,000 crore, he added.

This would have positive impact on the States of moving surpluses to deficit regions. The eastern region like Orissa, currently, has a surplus. The major power deficits include the four southern States, where the peak deficit is currently in the region of 17 per cent. The energy deficit is about 11 per cent.

Accordingly, the proposal of enhancing transmission capacity includes setting up a HVAC (high voltage alternating current) transmission system for evacuation of 2,000 MW from the eastern region, he said. This project would cost Rs 256 crore. Another HVAC and HVDC (high voltage direct current) for evacuation of another 2,000 MW from Talcher would cost Rs 1,483 crore.

These investments would mitigate the trippings in the region, he said.

During the last fiscal, there had been 1,478 line trippings due to overloading and frequency drops. Such overloading and frequency drops were mainly on account of shortfall in generating capacity and power availability, he added.

As a result of the shortfall in power availability, States such as Karnataka often resorted to overdrawals from the central generating stations. These overdrawals led to tripping in the neighbouring States as well.

But overdrawals by States such as Karnataka also resulted in overloading at some of the sub-stations like Hoody, which frequently trip. This tripping in turn caused power shut downs in the State.

Hence, there was a need to induce grid discipline. One of the methods of adopting grid discipline was through the introduction of penal charges as suggested by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. However, this proposal has been stayed by the courts on the basis of cases filed by Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Besides, the southern region was also characterised by low quality of power, evident from the low voltage. To correct the low voltage, PowerGrid had suggested installation of shunt capacitors, he said, and added that it had offered to help the State in fixing these capacitors.

He said that PowerGrid had set up a unified load despatch and communication (ULDC) scheme to deliver quality power in five regions of the country. The northern and southern region ULDC schemes are the first to be set up. The benefits of the scheme included real-time monitoring, supervision and control of the power system, optimal utilisation of generation and transmission resources, minimal system collapses and faster restoration in the event of failure of the system, better frequency and voltage control leading to quality power and enhanced operational efficiency.

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