The Hindu Business Line : Overcoming power shortage

The total generating capacity available to Tamil Nadu Electricity Board is around 10,100 MW. This comprises 5,597 MW of TNEB’s own generating stations, 1154 MW of private sector power plants, 2861 MW as share from Central sector generating stations, external assistance of 335 MW and others (captive power plants) of 175 MW. Apart from this, a total capacity of 3693 MW is available from wind mills in the private sector, 451.6 MW from co-generation plants and 104.85 MW from bio-mass plants.

The maximum peak demand so far reached is 9,076 MW (as on February 20, 2008). The growth of energy consumption is expected to be of the order of 9 per cent per annum. Energy consumption during 2007-08 up to February 2008 is 60,518 million units (MU) with a maximum daily consumption of 191.283 MU during 2007-08.

Peak demand

Tamil Nadu consumes 180 million units of electricity each day. The anticipated demand in 2008-09 is estimated at 9,500 MW. The sustained peak demand for power has been going up at a fast pace. This, coupled with the absence of capacity additions, has caused a temporary blip in the power situation in the state.

The sustained peak demand, which was 6,957 MW in 2002-03, rose to 7,228 MW (2003-04), 7,473 MW (2004-05), 8,209 MW (2005-06), 8,803 MW (2006-07) and during 2007-08 it is 9,076 MW. The sustained peak which was increasing by 200 to 300 MW every year has phenomenally increased by 500 to 600 MW for the past two years.

In the last several years, there has been practically no capacity addition. After the present government came to power, it initiated action to create capacities — which should come in the next few years. In the interregnum, there is bound to be some shortage. The government is trying to bridge the gap by purchasing power from other states and encouraging use of captive power by industries. Wind power should kick-in in the summer months and provide relief.

TNEB to spend Rs 925 crore on co-gen plants

A number of power projects are coming up, but an interesting development is the decision of the state government to put up co-generation plants in 15 co-operative and two public sector sugar mills in the State. The TNEB will invest nearly Rs 925 crore over the next two year in this project to create an additional capacity of 185 MW.

During 2008-09, under State Sector, the Periyar Vaigai Barrage Projects phase-1 (2 x 2 MW), 2 (2 x 1.25 MW) and phase-4 (2 x 1.25 MW) totalling 9 MW will be commissioned. Under the Central sector, the second unit of 220 MW capacity from the Kaiga Atomic Power Station, Stage II and the first unit of 1000 MW capacity of Kudankulam Atomic Power Project, Stage I, will be commissioned during 2008-2009. A share of 53 MW and 463 MW respectively will be made available to TNEB from the above two projects.

Tenders floated

In the State sector, orders for setting up of 600 MW Plant at North Chennai Thermal Power Station have been placed and another 600 MW is proposed to be added at the same place. At Mettur Thermal Power Station, tenders for establishment of 500 MW Plant under EPC basis have been called for.

Similarly, works for setting up Power Plants of 1000 MW capacity at Tuticorin Thermal Power Station and 500 MW at Ennore Thermal Power Station are at an advanced stage and tenders will be floated soon.

Under the joint venture route, orders for setting up of 2 x 500 MW Power Plant have been placed on EPC basis at North Chennai to be executed by NTECL which is a joint venture of TNEB with National Thermal Power Corporation. One more unit of 500 MW is proposed to be added at the same place. The project to set up 1000 MW Plant at Tuticorin by the joint venture with Neyveli Lignite Corporation is awaiting clearance from Government of India. Once the clearances are obtained, the project activities will be taken up.

BHEL venture

Yet another joint venture with BHEL for setting up 2 x 800 MW Power Plant at Udangudi is planned. The Government of Tamil Nadu has issued orders for permitting the TNEB to enter upon the land earmarked for the project. Detailed Project Report is under preparation.

The Government of Tamil Nadu is encouraging establishment of coastal thermal power plants under Merchant Power Plant route. Letters of facilitation have been issued to ten firms for establishment of power projects under Merchant Power Plant route for total capacity of 17,140 MW. Further, more than 10 applications for establishment of merchant power plants for another 15000 MW are under the active consideration of the Government.

Purchase pacts

The estimated power shortage all over India is about 15%, since there has been slippage in addition to generation capacity throughout India, besides the performance of some nuclear power plants is also poor.

In order to tide over the shortfall, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu approached the Power Ministry for the additional allocation of power. As a result, the Centre has allocated 300 MW more from unallocated quantum of Southern Region to TNEB from 26.12.07 for the evening peak hours (i.e. 18:00 hrs to 22:00 hrs) which was later reduced to 200 MW from January 19, 2008. In addition, TNEB is going ahead with SWAP arrangement for getting power from Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Jammu & Kashmir which can be returned in July & August. TNEB is purchasing power from other states/traders also.

In this situation, with least inconvenience to the consumers, demand management has been introduced in Tamil Nadu. The peak demand reduction is achieved by demand management measures such as staggering of industrial holidays and use of captive sets during peak hours.

WIND ENERGY

It is Tamil Nadu, with over 70 per cent of the national capacity, that is responsible for India ranking the 4th largest wind power generator in the world.

The state has an installed capacity of 7,845 MW. Most of the windmills are located in the windy southern districts and in the hilly districts near Coimbatore. Once derided as an artefact that only helps a company earn depreciation benefits, windmills have become a key supplement to the energy sources in the state. Over time, even individual investors have begun to park their surplus funds in windmills, earning handsome, tax-free income.

The gross wind power potential in Tamil Nadu was estimated at 3500 MW few years ago. This was subsequently revised to 5200 MW. India has an installed capacity of 8748 MW and Tamil Nadu being the leader in wind power sector has 44 per cent share in the total installations.

With the addition of 413 MW in 2007-08, the present installed capacity of wind power in the State till last March is 3873 MW.

This is works out to 29 per cent of the total installed capacity of 13,490 MW in the State. The higher percentage of the wind power shows the capability of the State to harness the renewable energy in a big way.

This will not only contribute to the total generation but also offset the cost to some extent, incurred due to transmission and distribution loss.

Marked growth

Globally, the wind energy sector saw phenomenal growth in the year 2007. However, in India, the industry failed to keep pace. Worldwide, added wind energy capacities were 19,696 MW in 2007 up from 15,120 MW in 2006.

In contrast, capacity additions in India slid to 1,580 MW from 1,730 MW in 2006. However, Tamil Nadu added 413 MW in 2007, making it clearly a progressive State.

At present, power availability in Tamil Nadu is strained, because of lack of capacity additions in the preceding several years. The state government is confident of managing the situation by buying power from other states and securing a better share of ‘unallocated power’ from central utilities. Next year, the strains will disappear because power from Kaiga and Kudangulam atomic power projects kick in and Tamil Nadu will get over 500 MW as its share.

The saviour

But for the current year, it is the wind power that is coming to the rescue of the state.

However, one problem facing the wind industry is the evacuation of power to the load centres.

After the installation of Sub-station at Ponnapuram, evacuation facilities have considerably improved at Gudimangalam and Udumalpet regions.

A new sub-station is also being installed at Palladam, which will help evacuate power from this region during the current season. However, evacuation facilities from Tirunelveli and Nagercoil districts are still inadequate to draw the power produced during high wind season.

Last year, around 15 per cent of power generation was lost due to shortage of evacuation facilities from these regions.

The State electricity board is working on a war-footing to strengthen the grid lines and improve the capacity of sub-stations in these regions to meet the requirement.

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