AP to invest Rs 14,000 crore in T&D

The Andhra Pradesh government has earmarked Rs 14,000-crore investments in the next four years for strengthening the transmission and distribution infrastructure, according to Dinesh Kumar, principal secretary (energy department). Of this, Rs 6,000 would be invested in transmission and Rs 8,000 crore in distribution.

“The southern power grid is secure against any collapse in view of efficient implementation of the Indian Electricity Grid Code (IEGC). All out and coordinated efforts of AP power utilities such as effective fault analysis, 24x7 monitoring of the grid and automatic disturbance control mechanisms had fully insulated the southern grid against any major blackouts like total grid collapse in the last 10 years,” he said during an interaction with top officials of power utilities on safety and security of power grid and its impact on reliable power supply on Sunday.

The concerted efforts of the employees and engineers of the energy department had helped in maintaining stability of the southern grid and averted any major disturbance since 2001, which helped the power utilities to give reliable power supply to crores of consumers in the state, he said in a release.

According to energy experts, the major grid disturbance in September 11, 2001, was mainly due to reflection of an electrical fault in a neighbouring state, which had led to cascading impact on all the southern states, and not due to Andhra Pradesh.

There has not been a single power blackout in the southern grid since September 11, 2001 (previous grid collapse day) and it was mainly possible due to enhanced grid discipline along with advanced planning, adequate investments in strengthening the transmission and distribution network and upgrading of sub-stations, Kumar said.

During the interaction, attended by Ajay Jain, chairman and managing director of APTransco, and K Vijayanand, managing director of APGenco, it was also decided that power utilities would continue to give utmost priority for maintaining grid discipline, the release added.