TN seeks bifurcation of Southern grid

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, APRIL 25. Tamil Nadu has sought the intervention of the Union Power Minister, Mr.Rangarajan Kumaramangalam, to bifurcate the Southern power grid with the State being grouped with Kerala as a ``separate grid'', to help permanently solve the under- frequency problem and attendant trippings faced by its thermal stations.

In a letter to Mr.Kumaramangalam, explaining how Tamil Nadu has been put to ``great hardship'' due to lack of frequency discipline in the Southern grid in the wake of frequent power overdrawals by Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, the State has said that the only option left to it now to resolve this issue was the creation of a new grid.

Disclosing this in the Assembly today, the State Electricity and Health Minister, Mr.Arcot Veeraswamy said that he had written to Mr.Kumaramangalam on April 20 that there have been as many as 20 under-frequency trippings per day ``causing untold miseries to the consumers'' in Tamil Nadu.

Replying to a special mention by the TMC MLA, Mr.S.Alagiri, on the frequent power disruptions in Cuddalore district, Mr.Veeraswamy said apart from hydel generation in the State having dropped by about 300 MW due to the poor water storage in reservoirs, the State faced a shortfall of 500 MW during the day.

Though the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) was managing the situation through separate load-shedding schedules for rural and urban areas, a few days ago two 210 MW units, one each at Tuticorin and Mettur thermal power stations had suddenly tripped. But the larger issue was the fallout of the power overdrawals from the Southern power grid by Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Mr.Veeraswamy informed the House that he had informed the Centre in his latest letter that the Southern grid frequency, which was kept at around 48.2 Hz had fallen to 47.8 Hz now and ``our efforts with the Southern Regional Electricity Board (SREB) and the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) have not borne any fruits.''

There has been overdrawing of power by the neighbouring States, as a result of which TNEB had lost 540 MW of power since April 1, 1999, Mr.Veeraswamy said. Worse, the trippings on account of under-frequency conditions in the grid ``have created a bad name for both the TNEB and the Tamil Nadu Government.''

The generation by the Central power stations in the State was around 1710 MW, which was equivalent to the share of Tamil Nadu and Kerala from them, the Minister said. Hence, there could be no objection from anybody to the creation of a new grid comprising TNEB and Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB).

Mr.Veeraswamy, who read out the contents of the letter in the House, said the grid bifurcation could be easily done by ``opening the breakers at Sriperumbudur and Salem 400 KV sub- stations by the Power Grid Corporation. Tamil Nadu has urged the Central Minister to direct the Corporation to do so, he added.

If Tamil Nadu's suggestion was not accepted, ''the present indiscipline in the grid will lead to frequent interruptions to the consumers leading to a bad image`` for the State Government, Mr.Veeraswamy emphasised in his letter. He would also take up the issue with Mr.Kumaramangalam when he would meet him in New Delhi on April 28.

Expressing the hope that its proposal will be accepted by the Centre this time, Mr.Veeraswamy also assured the House to review the load-shedding in the coming days. This year another 800 MW would be added to TNEB's capacity and from January 2001, frequent power interruptions should not recur, he said.

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Section  : Regional
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