Slow pace of power generation slows down PowerGrid projects

Company sources said the company was hopeful to complete a power station on the line in a month

The slow pace of implementation of power-generation projects has impacted nine out of 13 transmission projects of PowerGrid that were to be commissioned in FY15.

According to PowerGrid executives, if a generation project gets delayed during the course of its execution, attempts are to be made to slow transmission works to match pace with the generation.

“A number of these generation projects have got delayed during the course of implementation. We, therefore, slowed down the associated transmission systems to the extent possible to avoid so that they don’t turn into non-performing assets,” said a senior PowerGrid executive.  The state transmission giant has extended the commercial operation date (COD, commissioning date) by three years or more owing to issues relating to land and forest clearance.

The transmission lines related to Vindhyachal-IV and Rihand-III have been delayed because of delay in land acquisition of Vindhyachal Pooling Station. In this case, part of the system has been completed and commissioned to avoid any bottleneck in evacuation from these generation projects. According to sources, the company was hopeful of completing a power sub-station in a month's time. However, the delay has come in the way of full commissioning of the project.

The southern region, which was synchronised with the grid in December 2013, is still facing acute power shortage.

“The southern region is facing acute shortage of power, which is due to the delay of about 8,000 Mw of generation projects. Hence, the existing system provided for emergency power exchange between south and other regions has been provided,” said the PowerGrid executive cited above.

There is also a pending line by PowerGrid connecting Solapur-Pune, which is an important link to southern India. The COD of this line has been extended from October 2014 to January 2015 as implementation was affected due to right-of-way problem around Pune.

PowerGrid commissioned the Sagardighi–Behrampur 400 KV line recently in a record time of one year to enhance the reliability of power supply to West Bengal and Bangladesh.

An executive said PowerGrid’s transmission system has so far facilitated enhancement of power transfer under Long-Term Access from about 85,000 megawatt (Mw) in March 2011 to 135,000 Mw in March 2014.

“Besides, it has enabled enhancement of trade of power to 87 billion units in 2013-14 under short-term market, while congestion was observed only for about 5.6 billion units (0.6 per cent, equivalent to 638 megawatt) in FY14, against an annual generation of about 950 billion units (243 gigawatt). Over the years, due to integration of various regional grids and establishment of strong and resilient National Grid, the average price of power in the market has come down from Rs 7-8 a unit to Rs 2-3 a unit, thus benefiting the consumers," said the executive.