The Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (SPDCL) has played a crucial role in the restoration of power in the cyclone-hit areas of north coastal Andhra districts where the Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (EPDCL) and AP-Transco suffered a loss of nearly Rs 1,200 crore.
Visakhapatnam-based EPDCL alone incurred a loss of Rs. 900 crore. It took a massive manpower from Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to restore 90 per cent of power in three to four days.
SPDCL has sent approximately 10,000 officers, operations and maintenance staff and skilled and semi-skilled workers and material worth Rs. 30 crore to the three north coastal districts and parts of East Godavari, said SPDCL Chief Engineer (Vijayawada Zone) K. Rajabapaiah and Superintending Engineer B. Mohan Krishna.
Mr. Rajabapaiah added that Hudhud inflicted unprecedented damage with gales crossing 200 km per hour, whereas the electric poles and other infrastructure were designed to withstand a maximum wind velocity of 200 kmph.
A total of 15,344 route kilometres of Low Tension (LT) lines were destroyed and only 574 kilometres of these lines were pending restoration as on November 1.
The loss to LT lines alone stood at Rs. 369 crore, which was followed by a loss of Rs. 200 crore that the twister caused to 33 sub-stations of which 24 are 132/33 KV facilities. Over 1,360 11KV feeders and 24,993 Dynamic Thermal Rating (DTR) systems were destroyed with a financial implication of Rs 205 crore. The number of electrical services affected was pegged at a whopping 25.49 lakh.
Mr. Krishna said the Emergency Restoration Systems (ERS) of Power Grid Corporation of India helped EPDCL and SPDCL in speedy restoration of power. Most parts of Visakhapatnam city could get power back in just three days.
Due credit should go to the National Disaster Response Force and Navy which did their best in bringing back normalcy.
There were instances of helicopters belonging to the Eastern Naval Command air-dropping workers of the two DISCOMs in inaccessible areas.
All this would not be possible without the leadership of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and supervision of Principal Secretary (Energy) Ajay Jain and Transco Joint Managing Director K. Vijayanand and basically cooperation that the people extended.
