“Energy saved is energy generated.” The Transmission Corporation of Telangana Limited (TSTransco) only touts this adage, but does very little to see it materialised.
Experts say judicious use of power and quality pumpsets and capacitors in the agriculture sector could reduce power consumption by over 10 per cent and correspondingly cut the short supply of electricity. While power savings could be more in developed districts of the State, it could be as much as 7.4 million units (MU) per month in the backward district of Adilabad if pumpsets conforming to ISI standards and capacitors are installed in agriculture sector, the Rural Water Supply mechanism and a 3rd ‘neutral’ line is rigged for street lighting in gram panchayats.
“An ISI standard pumpset with matching capacitor, lets assume of 5 hp capacity, draws a reduced load of 6.3 amps against the 10 to 12 amps consumed by a locally made or repaired one,” says B. Ashok, Superintending Engineer, Adilabad Circle under the Northern Power Distribution Company Limited. “The pumpset would cost no more than Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 1,500, while the capacitor costs between Rs. 250 and Rs. 400 only,” he adds, to drive home the point that the change would be much cheaper when compared to the quantum of energy that would be saved.
There are 94,575 agriculture pumpsets in the district which are of 5 hp capacity on an average and run for five hours a day at present. “At 0.746 KW consumption per hp per hour, the cumulative consumption comes to 51 MU per month, against the total electricity demand of 116.34 MU in the district, and over 10 per cent of it can be saved by installing ISI standard motors and capacitors,” the SE elaborated.
The 866 gram panchayats in the district consume 3.3 MU per month with the street lighting eating away 1.6 MU and the water supply devouring 1.7 MU. A neutral wire along the street light supply networking will save 0.16 MU and another 0.17 MU can be saved if the pumpsets conform to quality standards.
“The saving of power through installation of ISI standard pumpsets could even be as high as 25 per cent. If the government funds farmers to install such pumpsets, it will turn into a beneficial proposition in about 4 years, thanks to the power saved,” points out G.L.P. Reddy, a retired Transco SE from Nizamabad, as he proffers a solution to the irksome power problem.
