Hyderabad - Power, Energy, Electricity

Work on the 1,080 MW Bhadradri Thermal Power Station (BTPS) in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district is all set to resume from Friday with Telangana State Power Generation Corporation (TS-Genco) authorities asking the implementing agency, BHEL, to do so after getting the final clearance on Thursday.

Officials sources in TS-Genco told The Hindu that Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) has forwarded the Environmental Clearance given by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) on March 15 along with its No Objection Certificate (NoC) for resuming the work on the first thermal project taken up by the Telangana Government.

The MoEF has directed the project proponent to submit six monthly reports on the status of implementation with regard to the stipulated environmental safeguards and also upload the compliance reports on its website.

Sub-critical technology

Work on the 270x4 MW thermal project was suspended in January last year following the directions of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) which, in response to a petition filed by a non-governmental organisation alleging environmental violations, raised questions over the impact of the project on the environment as it is based on the sub-critical technology. Use of sub-critical technology in thermal power projects in the country has been permitted only up to the end of 12th Five Year Plan (2016-17) to comply with the international norms.

However, the Centre has given exemption to several ongoing projects with the sub-critical technology since their implementation is under progress but not completed so far.

“As many as 36 thermal power projects using sub-critical technology are under implementation across the country, including the 600 MW new unit of Rayalaseema Thermal Power Station (RTPS) in Andhra Pradesh,” the sources said adding that even the 600 MW unit of Kakatiya TPS at Bhupalapally in 2016 is also based on the sub-critical technology.

‘NGT hurdle’

It has been a long haul for TS-Genco to get the final clearance as it had to get the exemption from the Ministry of Power first before moving the MoEF against for getting the EC.

“But for the NGT hurdle created by some vested interests, the Bhadradri project would have been completed well within the 12th FYP ending March 31,” the sources said with the hope “to commission at least two units of the project by the end of 2018.”

Over ₹1,020 crore has been spent so far on the project which is estimated to cost over ₹7,300 crore.

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The Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) announced commissioning of the much-awaited 765/400KV Wardha-Dichpally (Nizamabad) double-circuit transmission line, well ahead of its scheduled completion in May 2018.

According to Executive Director (SR-I) of PGCIL V. Sekhar, the new transmission line linking the north-west-south corridors was officially commissioned on March 30. He said the new system would facilitate import of power mainly from Chhattisgarh. The Telangana power utilities have already been granted Long-Term Access of the transmission line.

The PGCIL executive said the project was fast-tracked on the request of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and was completed in a record time fulfilling the commitment. The Corporation thanked the State government and the administration of the districts through which the transmission line traverses till Dichpally, for their cooperation. He said the Corporation has completed another major inter-regional link by commissioning 765KV Angul-Srikakulam-Vemagiri double-circuit line facilitating the import of eastern region power to southern region in January this year. With the commissioning of the two links, an inter-regional power transfer capacity of 9,000 MW has been made available to the southern region. Besides, a 400/220KV sub-station to evacuate power from the Solar Park at Nambulapula Kunta in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh was commissioned in a record period of seven months, he explained, adding that it greatly boosted the renewable energy integration into the grid.During 2017-18, the Power Grid Corporation through its subsidiary PSITSL would be implementing the transmission system beyond Vemagiri to enable power transfer to the new capital region of A.P. and further connection to Kadapa (A.P.) and Tumkur in Karnataka. The works of +/-800KV Raigarh-Pugulur HVDC Project would also be implemented to further improve inter-regional power transfer capacity of 6,000 MW for southern region, he added.

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From a power-deficit State in June 2014, when it came into being, Telangana has managed to tide over the crisis situation by augmenting capacity and bridging the gap with purchases. It is now gearing up to meet peak demand of up to 10,000 MW during the ensuing summer months.

From a deficit of 2,000 MW in 2014, Telangana is on course to becoming a power-surplus State like Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. This transformation would not have been possible but for enhanced generation, efficient distribution and demand side management.

When the State was formed, the total installed capacity was 6,574 MW and power shortage was at 2000 MW. In the last 33 months, the State added 4,190 MW. Significantly, by next year, 4130 MW of additional power will be available.

D Prabhakar Rao, Chairman and Managing Director of TS Transco, told BusinessLine, “This transformation would not have been possible but for the support of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, timely decisions and teamwork in the sector.”

“There will be no problem for supply during summer as we have capacity to meet demand of up to 10,000 MW. Already demand is gradually coming down from the rabi crop in the agriculture sector. The demand is likely to slip to a little over 8,000 MW,” Rao explained.

Purchase constraints
In 2014, even if the State wanted to augment power purchase, the transmission corridors were fully booked and there was no facility to procure power from power -surplus regions. Factoring the constraints, a high tension power line from Wardha in Chhattisgarh up to Maheshwaram via Dichpalli, in Telangana was proposed.

PowerGrid completed the line ahead of schedule. This enabled Telangana to procure power from any part of the country. However, it has already contracted to buy 2,000 MW from the power-surplus Chhattisgarh.

The State electricity regulator has fixed the power purchase price at ₹3.90 per unit, which includes ₹2.70 as fixed cost and ₹1.20 per unit as variable cost. This price works out cheaper than the average cost of supply of power in the State at ₹4.51 a unit in 2016-17 and projected cost of ₹4.45 per unit in 2017-18.

During 2013-14, in the unified State of Andhra Pradesh, industrial consumers faced power holidays of up to three days in a week and no supply during peak hours. Domestic consumers faced up to six hours of power cuts and the farm sector had erratic supplies as against promise of seven hours per day.

Since the State’s formation, there is no power cut on any section of consumers. The industry gets round-the-clock supply and the agriculture sector too gets nine hours of power in two spells. The latter is aided by the addition of solar power capacity. Efforts are on to double the generation capacity of solar power, from about 1800 MW now. Telangana is projected to have installed capacity of about 3,800 MW of solar power by June 2018 as PPAs have already been inked with the developers.

Open access
In the last couple of years, the demand side issues too have changed. These have enabled the State utilities meet the energy requirement. The open access offered to industrial consumers enabled them to purchase power from other merchant power sources and from the spot exchanges. The cost of power procured too is lower than what the State now offers for industries. As against ₹5 a unit and above, the spot exchange supply sometimes works out to as low as ₹3 a unit.

Devendra Surana, FICCI Chairman in Telangana, said, “The power sector has improved dramatically in the State due to changes brought about by the Centre and good management by the State. In addition, while the open access offers a channel for industries, the State needs to look at the cross subsidy part.”

As per the perspective plan, in the next three years, the State expects the capacity to be about 16,306 MW. The additional capacity will come from 800 MW at KTPS, 1080 MW at Bhadradri, 4000 MW from NTPC, 800 MW more from Singareni Collieries, 4000 MW from Yadadri, 800 MW from central generating stations and 1000-2000 MW from Chhattisgarh. In addition, the State expects to add about 3800 MW from solar power and 90 MW from hydel power, all seeking to ensure that the demand-supply gap is well addressed and State becomes surplus.

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Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) here has set a world record in the production of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) fuel bundles.
NFC, which is the industrial arm of the Department of Atomic Energy, provides fuel to all operating nuclear power reactors in the country.
During the year 2016-17, NFC achieved a record production of 1,512 metric tonnes of PHWR fuel bundles. NFC has also achieved the highest production of 1,154 MT of Zirconium oxide power and 759 MT of Zirconium Sponge from its production units at Hyderabad and Zirconium Complex (ZC), Pazhayakayal in Tamil Nadu, to meet the Zircaloy requirements of the PHWRs and Boiler Water Reactors (BWRs).

A function was organised to celebrate the occasion at NFC on Thursday. G Kalyanakrishnan, chairman & chief executive, NFC, congratulated all the employees for the achievement.
NFC has the technology to manufacture seamless tubes and meets the critical requirements of the departments of atomic energy, space and defence. This includes meeting requirements of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), battle tanks, missiles, supercritical boilers and the BrahMos.

NFC will also expand its facilities to meet the future requirement of a total of 20 PHWRs of 700 MW, which are proposed to be established in a phased manner across the country.

NFC-Kota with '2,400 crore is being established for augmenting the existing facilities at Hyderabad campus and Zirconium Complex, Pazhayakayal, in Tamil Nadu.

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Complaints about power cuts poured in from every nook and corner of the city on Sunday. Though the state government has said there have been no power cuts in the city and the state, residents brought their woes to the notice of municipal administration minister K T Rama Rao.

The minister appeared surprised when one Vikram Singh complained that power cuts had become the order of the day and wondered if there would be 24 hours electricity ever in the city.

"Where is this happening? No scheduled outages in Telangana," the minister responded on Twitter while asking the Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (TSSPDCL) to look into the complaint.

Many other complaints soon poured in about power outages, unscheduled power cuts, regular power cuts and power cuts for long hours. The company responded to one Vishwajeet Vangala about power cuts at Alkapuri township and Manikonda areas. The company said, "Dear consumer, currently supply is normal in your area. If power is not restored, please tweet again." Reacting to the tweet, KTR told TSSPDCL: "Thanks for the prompt response. Please take care of complaints/issues coming from other areas too."

When a consumer pointed out that there was a power cut at Boduppal, the corporation said it was due to line work and the power supply would be restored in an hour.
A consumer Pinky, while drawing the attention of the minister to daily power cuts in Madhapur, suggested that a website be set up so that consumers can report power cuts to authorities. Pinky got no response. Another consumer from Musheerabad said there were 10-15 minutes outages sometimes. One Krishna Chandaka said every day there were unscheduled power cuts for one or two hours at Mayurinagar, Miyapur. Sidharrth M Hemmadi said there were power cuts on Road no. 14, Banjara Hills, usually during early mornings. Resident Sandeep Samal complained about cuts in Borabanda. Another area facing a problem was Panchavati Colony, Manikonda.

The corporation did not reply to all complaints. To some, it said that scheduled power cuts had been announced in the newspaper.
A consumer Jagadeesh said there were power cuts at Whitefields area of Kondapur. Speaking about his experience, Phani Murali said: "When I tweeted about Chandanagar power cuts everybody bashed me. So its happening all over Hyderabad."

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