The Hindu Business Line : Beef up evacuation facilities in southern districts, TNEB told

Demand-supply gap
The power projects planned by TNEB would take over three years for commissioning.
TNEB will soon have to match the power tariff with that in other States.

Our Bureau

Chennai, Oct. 18 The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board should strengthen its power evacuation and transmission infrastructure in the southern districts to support the growth of wind power generation, said Mr S. Kabilan, Chairman, Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC).

At an interaction between the wind power producers, equipment manufacturers and the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board organised by the TNERC here on Wednesday, he said that with 3,400 MW of installed capacity wind generation plays a crucial role in meeting the growing power requirement in the State.

TNEB is now dependent on the Power Grid Corporation’s substations and transmission facilities, which are expected to be in place by November. But the infrastructure would be available to the TNEB only for about a year or two until the Kudankulam nuclear power generation facility is commissioned. TNEB has to set up its own infrastructure for wind power evacuation, he said.

‘Wind power crucial’

The power projects planned by TNEB would take over three years for commissioning, so wind power is crucial to “sustain the momentum of capacity addition,” he said.

Under the circumstances, it is of concern that there is a tendency for investments in wind energy generation to shift to other States. This trend has to be reversed and the primacy of Tamil Nadu established for the mutual benefit of the industry and TNEB, Mr Kabilan said.

Mr K. Kasturi Rangaian, Vice-Chairman, , Indian Wind Power Association, said that apart from wind energy, power generation in the southern districts was on the increase. But the transmission lines between Kayathar, the major centre of wind power generation to Madurai was a weak link.

Over 500-800 MW of wind power was being wasted because of inadequate evacuation and transmission facilities. TNEB needs to set up its own 400 kV line instead of depending on Power Grid’s infrastructure.

Mr N. Ramani, Task Force Member – Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association, said there was an increasing mismatch between power generation and power evacuation facilities in the South. TNEB should coordinate closely with Power Grid Corporation to ensure that adequate facilities are in place for evacuation.

Also TNEB should match the power tariff with that in other States. It pays Rs 2.90 a unit against Rs 3.40 or more in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Responding to the representations, the TNEB Chairman, Mr Hans Raj Verma, said TNEB faced constraints because of its grave financial condition. Annual losses were around Rs 3,000 crore, accumulated losses were in excess of Rs 10,000 crore and loan outstanding was over Rs 12,000 crore.

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