Hudhud compunds Telangana's power woes

Telangana has become the unsuspecting victim of devastation wrought by cyclone Hudhud on October 12. Telangana state which has been reeling under lack of enough power supply to borewells in the Khariff season, has not been getting its share of 1,110 mw power from NTPC's Simahdri Super Thermal Power Project in Visakhapatnam district since the day calamity struck.

It is not that the power plant is not back to work. In fact, it is ready to generate power at its full capacity of 2,000 mw, but the problem is transmission lines are in a mess after the cyclone.

'We have restored our first unit of 500 mw last Thursday itself. Today, three units of 500 mw each are are ready to generate power at full capacity. But they are working only at 350 mw capacity each. This is the lowest we can go without having to shut down a unit,' says power project group general manager Asim Kumar Samanta.

The thermal project's fourth station of 500 mw capacity is also ready and the authorities are awaiting clearance from the Southern Region Load Dispatch Centre (SRLDC), Bangalore, for commencing power generation.

'The unit is ready. If we get the clearance we can straighaway light the unit,' Samanta said. The power station, with three units working at 350 mw capacity, is generating now 1,050 mw.

The other 500 mw unit is also ready and our switch yard too does not have any problems. But to evacuate the power generated, the transmission network should be ready. The power generated at the Simhadri station is sent out through its switch yard to APTransco's 400 kv switch yard at Kalapaka. From there the power is fed into the grid.

'As a huge transmission tower had collapsed at Kalapaka, we are not able to take full load of power generated at the Simhadri Super Thermal Power Project. The transmission lines have to be restored. It will take some time,' says Andhra Pradesh energy secretary Ajay Jain.

He, however, expresses hope that infrastructure would be ready within a few days so that Simhadri could work at full capacity.

Meanwhile, Telangana state is purchasing power every day at a hefty price of `7.05 per unit. So far, the state has purchased 157.88 million units this moth, by shelling out `125.48 crore. The power utilities could meet a demand of 141 million units on Tuesday, according to official sources.

Simhadri Super Thermal Power Project officials say they have no role in the sharing of power between AP and Telangana. 'Our job is to generate power. Apportioning of power is done at AP Load Dispatch Centre depending on availability and requirement and in accordance with the provisions of AP State Reorganisation Act, 2014,' Samanta says.