Having touched an all-time peak demand of 15,200 mega watt (MW) this year, the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) is taking steps to not only augment its generation capacity but also to strengthen the distribution network.
As part of the distribution infrastructure development plan, the Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation (TANTRANSCO) has in its pipeline several sub-stations of varying capacities in different parts of the State. The distribution infrastructure project is part of the 13th master plan to be executed between 2017 and 2022.
A senior official of Tantransco said sub-stations of 400 kilo volt (KV), 230 KV, 110 KV and 33 KV had been planned to be developed to prevent outages. Also, work on high tension lines for thousands of kilometres and renovation of existing sub-stations were being taken up.
Tantransco has planned to construct 465 new sub-stations of different capacities and augmentation of 177 existing sub-stations.
Giving a break-up of the 465 new sub-stations planned in the State, the official said five new sub-stations of 400 KV would come up in Chennai, Tiruchi, Erode and Madurai.
Similarly, the 230-KV sub-station has been planned at 57 places, with 10 sub-stations Coimbatore, nine each in Erode and Villupuram, eight in Madurai and five in South Chennai.
Tantransco would be executing 102 sub-stations of 110-KV capacity and 301 sub-stations of 33-KV in nine regions covering Chennai North and South, Villupuram, Vellore, Tiruchi, Erode, Coimbatore, Madurai and Tirunelveli.
Normally, Chennai with two regions always remained the focus for any infrastructure development project, but in the 13th plan, officials of the Electricity department have given importance to the remaining seven regions. The officials have also focussed on having more 33KV sub-stations as they play a very important role in maintaining grid management.
Lion’s share for Tiruchi
The official said Tiruchi would have the highest number of sub-stations with 105 out of the 465 planned sub-stations. Even in augmentation of the existing sub-stations, Tiruchi tops with 33 set for renovation.
In the master plan, Tantransco proposed to establish four sub-stations of 765-KV capacity. Preliminary work on establishing a 765-KV sub-station in North Chennai is under way.
The official said the pooling sub-station is proposed for evacuating 3,440 MW of power from the thermal power projects in North Chennai. The four new pooling sub-stations would be executed at a cost of Rs. 9,000 crore.
Taking into consideration the proposed 1,600-MW Uppur Supercritical Thermal plant, Tantransco planned to establish a 765/400 KV sub-station at Virudhunagar at a cost of Rs. 2,000 crore.
At present, there are 14 sub-stations of 400-KV capacity in the State. Four of them are owned by Tantransco and 10 maintained by Power Grid Corporation (PGCIL).
