Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Thursday made a series of announcements covering Energy, Transport and Adi Dravidar welfare sectors running into several crores of rupees.
As part of her government’s efforts to ensure uninterrupted power supply and develop the infrastructure for the purpose, 60 sub-stations and 2500 km of high voltage power transmission corridor will be set up at a cost of Rs. 5,284 crore in the current financial year, she informed the state Assembly.
Two sub-stations of 230 kv at an estimated Rs. 338.08 crore will be set up in Chennai -- one each at West Mambalam and Porur.
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Making suo motu statements in the House, Ms. Jayalalithaa proposed modernisation and up-gradation of two of the existing units of Solayar Hydroelectric station in Coimbatore district at a cost of Rs. 120 crore.
The installed capacity of the two units will be upgraded to 42 mw from the existing 35 mw and this was part of her government’s efforts to give fillip to the hydro-electric power generating stations that she said were playing a role in helping the government meet peak power demand in the mornings and evenings.
Already, similar power stations at Papanasam and Mettur have been modernised, she said.
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On the solar power front, 102 mw of installed capacity has been created since 2011 even as TANGEDCO had issued letters of intent (LOI) to entrepreneurs for generating 708 mw of solar power, she said.
She also allocated Rs. 435.50 crore for setting up a 400 kv sub-station in Ramanathapuram to add solar power being generated from rooftop of homes, a government subsidised scheme, to the power grid. A 230 kv sub-station will be set up in Virudhunagar district also at an estimated Rs. 47.51 crore, she added.
Recalling her government’s various efforts in increasing power generation in the wake of the 4000 mw shortage when her government assumed office in 2011, Ms. Jayalalithaa said TANGEDCO (Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation) met a peak demand of 13,775 mw on June 24, 2014, supplying a ‘record’ 294 million units.