Punjab plans to upgrade its power transmission network

Farmers in Punjab would now be able to get uninterrupted power supply in the kharif season thanks to favourable weather conditions and Punjab government’s initiative to upgrade its electricity transmission network in rural areas.

In order to strengthen its network, the government has ambitious plans of converting 0.19 million agricultural pumpsets (AP) connections from LVDS (Low voltage distribution system) to HVDS (High voltage distribution system). Of this 1,50,347 AP connections have already been provided with dedicated transformers as on March 31, 2011, and remaining connections would be converted by the end of this month.

The move would not only help the state government to reduce transmission and distribution (T&D) line loss but also ensure uninterrupted power supply to the farmers. Analysts mentioned that converting LVDS into HVDS will avoid tripping, transmission losses and voltage dropping.

 

Also, the conversion of LVDS to HVDS on 11 Kv Agriculture Pump Sets (AP feeders) 200 Mw and by installing shunt capacitors would also result in saving 150 Mw. The state government through its power entities is likely to invest Rs 300 crore to strengthen its T&D network.

Furthermore, the state government has asked Punjab State Power Corporation Limited to ensure a minimum of eight hours power supply to the tubewells. In order to ensure uninterrupted power supply, the corporation has already entered into an MoU with five states including Tripura, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh to purchase 1,000 Mw power to meet the peak load requirement of power for paddy and summer season.

Officials maintained that Punjab is getting 925 Mw power from these states. They said that due to intensive bargaining, Punjab was getting power at an average of Rs 4 per unit, which was Rs 2-2.50 less than last year. Further, to meet the increasing domestic power demand, Punjab would get 1,076 Mw and would continue to purchase power up to October according to the fluctuating demands. They also manitained that to ensure a continuous eight-hour three phase power supply to 11,00,000 tube wells, the state has been divided into three groups.

This kharif season, the state has designated 2.75 million hectares under paddy cultivation this kharif season against the 2.83 million hectares last season. Further, last year paddy production in Punjab was 16.25 million metric tonnes that is expected to touch 16.29 million metric tonnes this season.

The move to upgrade transmission network will also help the state government to avoid T&D losses. It is worth mentioning that PSPCL (Punjab State Power Corporation) has projected transmission and distribution losses at 17 per cent for the financial year 2011-12, a reduction of 1 per cent from the loss level of 18 per cent projected for financial year 2010-11 and reduction of 2.81 per cent from the loss level of 19.81 per cent for 2009-10.