The State government is gearing up to provide 24-hour uninterrupted power supply to all sectors, primarily the agriculture sector, by March/April next year.
Measures launched by the power utilities in this direction, including construction of 400 kV transformers, are in advanced stages of completion and are likely to be commissioned ahead of the Rabi deadline. From a network of six 400 kV sub-stations with a capacity to supply 5,240 MW, the State is set to acquire transmission capacity in excess of 13,000 MW once the proposed nine 400 kV sub-stations become functional in the next couple of months.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao inaugurated a 400 kV sub-station, constructed with an estimated ₹ 1,600 crore, at Chivvemla in Suryapet on Thursday. The sub-station is part of the nine planned by the power utilities to significantly enhance the carriage capacity. Officials said works on five sub-stations with capacity of 3,980 MW had been completed while the remaining four are in advanced stages of completion. “New sub-stations had been planned keeping in view not only the current requirements, but also the future growth projections following the instructions from the Chief Minister,” TS Transco and TS Genco chairman and managing director D. Prabhakar Rao said.
Mr. Prabhakar Rao said the utilities had incurred ₹ 12,610 crore expenditure for setting up new sub-stations, distribution lines and transformers over the past three years. In all, 514 new sub-stations with different capacities, 1,724 power transformers and 19,154 km of new lines had been set up since the formation of the State in 2014. The utilities had by and large succeeded in resolving the problems relating to grid disturbances in the process.
The estimates on the required network capacity were based not only on the current requirement but also the new capacity that would be needed for lift irrigation schemes, Mission Bhagiratha and expected growth in the industrial sector. Since the generation capacity had gone up significantly, emphasis was laid on strengthening the distribution network for providing reliable power to all sections of consumers.
