Battleground summer; power tussles begin

The beginning of summer time in Tamil Nadu places the upkeep employees and senior officers of the electrical energy division in overdrive to keep up uninterrupted energy provide to properties. It’s important that Tangedco begin making ready for the summer time, which formally begins round April and goes on until the primary week of June, when energy demand shoots up.

A senior official of Tangedco says that besides through the COVID-19 lockdown enforced in 2020 and 2021, the facility demand has been rising each summer time. This 12 months, the height energy demand file has been damaged twice, with an all-time excessive of 19,387 MW and 423.785 million models consumed on April 20. On April 18, Tangedco was capable of meet the height demand of 18,882 MW and consumption of 413 million models by the greater than 3.30 crore customers, the official provides.

At any time when the height demand is reached, massive blackouts will ensue in some components of the State and the town; however no main energy disruptions had been witnessed this 12 months, even after the height demand touched 19,387 MW, officers say.

Provide secured

Officers say they anticipated the height demand interval, and have been securing the availability of 20,000 MW from numerous power sources, in addition to attending to long-pending distribution points. The pre-summer upkeep work lined 19 initiatives, and it was modelled on the pre-monsoon preparedness work.

The senior official says the preparations for the summer time included routine sub-station upkeep; substitute of broken high- and low-tension poles; rectification of leaning poles; tightening of sagging energy strains; elimination of previous and broken poles and set up of latest poles; substitute of weak and broken insulators; repairs to broken pillar packing containers; substitute of aged energy conductors with new ones; set up of latest jumpers and switches; oiling transformers; and set up of transformers in low-voltage areas.

Tangedco had taken up a mass upkeep programme of 10.77 lakh duties beneath 19 classes for strengthening the distribution community and accomplished greater than 11 lakh duties beneath the common upkeep work within the monetary 12 months 2022-23. Along with this, it has been taken up large infrastructure growth and improve all through the State by commissioning substations of assorted capacities, and putting in a whole lot of distribution transformers for stopping low voltage and energy fluctuations through the peak demand interval.

The State’s transmission community is about to endure a sea change with the commissioning of the three new 765-KV substations, together with the pooling station at North Chennai. The 2 different 765-KV substations are being established at Ariyalur and Virudhunagar.

The senior official says the preparations for the summer time included routine sub-station upkeep, substitute of broken high- and low-tension poles and rectification of leaning poles.
| Photograph Credit score:
Particular association

Among the vital initiatives carried out by Tangedco over the last monetary 12 months had been the commissioning of 400-KV substations at Vellalaviduthi, Edayarpalayam, Ottapidaram, Samugarengapuram and Parali and 230-KV substations at 28 locations. To strengthen the transmission community, Tangedco commissioned 52 further high-tension substations at a price of ₹1,198 crore. Nonetheless, there have been complaints of energy cuts and voltage fluctuations in inside components.

Within the industrial district of Coimbatore, customers within the metropolis, particularly home customers, skilled energy disruptions. In some areas, disruptions occur virtually day-after-day, says a shopper. “Final week, energy provide was minimize for nearly three hours at night time,” says Dhanalakshmi, who resides at Ramanathanpuram in Coimbatore metropolis.

Industrial customers pleased

Regardless of problems with fluctuations and energy cuts, the commercial customers are pleased that there isn’t a main energy scarcity. C. Sivakumar, president of Coimbatore Tiruppur District Tiny and Micro Enterprises Affiliation, says industries haven’t confronted energy cuts up to now this 12 months, besides upkeep shutdowns.

In Tiruchi metropolis, there have been no main points or complaints about energy provide because the begin of the summer time. However energy disruptions did occur for half-hour to 45 minutes at some locations. In accordance with officers of the Tiruchi circle, Tangedco recorded minimal complaints even through the second and third weeks of April when energy consumption peaked. Tangedco, which used to implement energy shutdowns as soon as in a month in notified areas for repairs and upkeep, didn’t achieve this in March and April this 12 months to assist college students put together for the general public examinations, the official add.

The climate being nice within the final one week has introduced down the facility demand. Nonetheless, farmers complain of frequent energy failures in rural and inside components. Farmers at Thottiyam and Musiri are dealing with a torrid time. “We’ve been encountering frequent disruptions in energy provide for the final 10 days. The availability is minimize for half-an-hour to at least one hour. We had been with out energy between 8 p.m. Wednesday and three a.m. Thursday,” says Ok. Raju, a farmer at Musiri.

The customers in Thanjavur and Tiruvarur complain of low voltage throughout day time. The home customers in and round business and semi-industrial areas bore the brunt of low voltage for practically a fortnight earlier than the summer time rain arrived. The issue was so acute that the facility tools in homes tripped often because the stabilisers struggled to steadiness the voltage wanted for the devices to run. Social activist Gopalakrishnan of Thanjavur says that although the climate has turned cool, the summer time warmth will return within the coming days and the issue of low voltage will come up. To keep away from the issue, air-conditioners shouldn’t be used and roof-top photo voltaic vegetation must be promoted.

Arulanandham of Saliyamangalam says the low voltage downside, if it persists for just a few extra weeks, will affect the summer time crop cultivation. The farmers who rely totally on the groundwater require constant energy provide. In Salem, Namakkal and Erode, customers discover the month-to-month upkeep, performed a full day, a nuisance.

(With inputs from C. Jaisankar in Tiruchi, M. Sabari in Salem, M. Soundariya Preetha in Coimbatore, S.P. Saravanan in Erode and V. Venkatasubramanian in Thanjavur)