High voltage lines for Southern States…

 

Anticipating a power shortage of 11,000 MW by the end of 12th five year plan in So­uthern region (SR), Central Electricity Authority proposes to lay two high volta­ge direct current (HVDC) lines from Gujarat and Chh­attisgarh with 6,000 MW ca­pacity each to overcome po­wer deficit faced by Sou­thern states.

According to CEA estimate, total projected dem­and for SR comprising Ta­mil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala at the end of 2016-17 would be 57,221 MW while the total availability would stand at 48,188 MW which includes ge­n­eration by newly added po­wer projects of 15,760 MW.

“The SR would be deficit of power due to high load growth and the fact that some of the planned generation projects, like Krishn­apatnam Ultra Mega Power Project, Ind Barath, Yerm­a­rus, Edlapur, Kalpa­kkam, Ud­a­ngudi and Cheyyur UM­PP, among others are getti­ng delayed. It was assessed that the SR would have de­ficit of 7000 to 11,000 MW of power by 2016-17,” said CEA sources.

A senior official of Power Grid Corporation of India said that to overcome the power crisis in the SR, ma­ny inter and intra regional transmission projects are to be undertaken. “We are planning to construct two lines from Gujarat and Chh­attisgarh to SR to import the surplus power from there,” the official said.

A 800 Kv HVDC line would be laid between Raigarh in Chhattisgarh and Pugalur in Tamil Nadu with a capacity of 6,000 MW.

TANGEDCO along with Maharashtra State Mining Corporation proposes to set up a 4,000 MW pit head power station in a coal block jointly allocated to them in Chhat­tisgarh. The state would get 2500 mw as its share.

PGCIL official said that Gujarat could have around 6,000 MW of surplus power in the future.

“The surplus power from Gujarat can be imported to southern re­gi­on to meet the deficit. He­nce we are planning a 800 kv HVDC link from Gujarat to a suitable landing point in SR,” the official said, ad­ding that total cost of the project be around Rs 12,000 cr­ore.

A TNEB official said that execution of these transmission lines wo­u­ld ease gr­id congestion and enable power import from surplus regions in times of need.

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Kerala, Tamil Nadu unable to buy power from National Grid...

 

India's southern states are unable to buy power from the rest of the country although a new grid has been put in place since January 1.

Kerala and Tamil Nadu have not been able to buy power from the exchanges over the past one month, a senior official of Indian Exchange said, adding that prices have risen substantially in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka due to inadequate supply from the local plants.

"Although the national grid now connects the entire country, Kerala and Tamil Nadu have not been able to source any power because this new grid is wheeling only about 300-400 mw a day and power trading has not been allowed on the grid yet," the official said, requesting anonymity.

Kerala, Tamil Nadu unable to buy power from National Grid

While there is no generating station with excess power in these two states, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have been receiving some supply from the local plants, he said. However, this supply is not adequate.

As a result, power prices in these two states have risen sharply to 5 per unit from 3 per unit over the past one month, he added. At the same time, there are a number of thermal power stations with idle capacity in north and east India.These plants cannot be fired up as the new grid is not stable enough to supply excess power to the southern states from the rest of the country, officials said.

Until last month, the southern grid was a standalone power distribution system which could not draw adequate power from the rest of the country. Producers such as NTPC, on the other hand, were saddled with idle capacity because they could not route power from their plants due to lack of a transmission system linking southern India. Power prices have, therefore, remained high in the southern states, officials said, adding that the new grid is yet to change the scenario.

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With national grid, South to have access to 1,500MW additional power...

 

Providing succour for the power starved South, the region is expected to have access to additional electricity flow of about 1,500 MW once the all India national power grid becomes fully operational.

In a major step, the Southern power grid was synchronised with the rest of the national grid on December 31, 2013, and it is expected to be fully operational in a few months.

A government official said that once the new grid is fully operational, it would be able to carry an additional of about 1,500 MW electricity to Southern region.

In the absence of grid connectivity, Southern region was unable to utilise excess power available in other regions.

South witnessed peak power deficit of 6.8 per cent in November last year, the highest among the regions, according to latest official data.

Peak power deficit refers to shortage of electricity when demand is at the maximum.

During November last, while Southern region's electricity demand touched 34,118 MW, the availability was only around 31,786 MW.

Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Lakshwadeep make up the Southern region, as per power sector's planning body Central Electricity Authority (CEA).

The country's power system is operating through five regional grids. Till December 31, the Northern, Eastern, Western and North-eastern regions' grids were connected synchronously while Southern grid was connected through HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) links.

"Synchronous integration of Southern grid with rest of the national power grid shall not only augment the inter- regional power transfer capacity of Southern region but also relieve the congestion being experienced in few transmission corridors," the Power Ministry had said on January 1.

"This will be a great boost for further economic growth of the country. It is likely to take a few months before power flow over this line is stabilised," it had said.

Out of the country's total installed generation capacity of 2,32,164 MW, Southern region accounted for 57,529 MW at the end of November 2013.

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‘Grid integration may help check 2012-like power outages’...

 

Tuesday’s linking of the southern power grid to the national grid will reduce the possibility of the recurrence of the massive power outage in India a year and half ago, and also improve the quality of power in the country.

The July 30-31, 2012 outage had crippled northern and North-eastern States for several hours and more than 50 crore people went without power. This was the largest power outage in India’s history, and exposed the country’s infrastructural weaknesses.

“Now that all the five regional grids are interlinked, chances for such blackouts are very low,” M. Muhammedali Rawther, Member, Electrical Generation, Kerala State Electricity Board, told Business Line.

“The load flow will be smoother and overdrawal of power by individual States from the national grid can be controlled better.” It was the overdrawal by certain States in the peak of summer that had led to the crash of the national grid and the two-day outage in 2012.

The southern power grid was synchronised with the national power transmission network on the New Year’s Eve, thus facilitating seamless flow of power across the five regional grids.

Rawther pointed out that the national grid would now operate on a single frequency.

“The load flow will be smoother, power supply will be more reliable and there will be fewer voltage fluctuations,” he said. “The overall quality of power will improve.” Load control would be more efficient and easier.

“The technicians at the national load dispatch station in New Delhi can now control load anywhere in the country.”

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Power trading set to get a boost as India gets a national grid...

 

In what may give a big boost to power trading business in the country, India has finally connected the southern region with rest of the country for unhindered electricity flow, achieving the goal of a national grid after a long wait.

“The central transmission utility, Power Grid, has successfully commissioned the Raichur-Solapur 765-KV single-circuit transmission line on Tuesday evening, interconnecting the southern grid synchronously with the rest of the national power grid –- a move that would facilitate bulk transfer of power across regional boundaries. With this, the mission of ‘One Nation – One Grid – One Frequency’ has been successfully accomplished,” the power ministry said on Wednesday.

The national grid will help southern states, especially Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, which are facing huge shortages, lift surplus power from other regions. In the absence of a national grid, these states were paying exorbitantly high prices for buying electricity from the open market because of uncertainty about power evacuation due to congestion in the transmission network.

The Indian power system is operating through five regional grids and a Pan-India synchronous grid was envisaged for optimal utilisation of the generation resources in the country. Till now, four regional grids -- northern, eastern, western and north-eastern -- were connected synchronously and the southern region was connected to the other four grids via HVDC links.

“The 208-circuit-km-long transmission line and 765- and 400-KV substations at Raichur and Sholapur have been commissioned five months ahead of the contracted schedule. The project has been completed at the cost of Rs 815 crore, Power Grid said.

"Synchronous integration of the southern grid with the rest will not only augment the inter-regional power transfer capacity of the southern region, but also relieve congestion seen in a few transmission corridors. This will be a boost for growth of the country," Power Grid added.

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Indian power system becomes one of the largest operating synchronous grids in the world...

 

The Southern Grid has been synchronously connected to the rest of the Grid in the country. With this, the mission of  ‘One Nation – One Grid – One Frequency’ has been successfully accomplished. 

The southern grid connectivity was achieved on the evening of  December 31, 2013 through commissioning of Raichur-Solapur 765 kV single circuit transmission line by Power Grid Corporation of India Limited, the Central Transmission Utility of the country, interconnecting the Southern grid synchronously with the  rest of the national power grid facilitating bulk transfer of power across regional boundaries.

This line of 208 circuit kilometers (ckm) and 765/400 kV substations at Raichur and Sholapur has been commissioned five months ahead of its contractual schedule i.e. 31st May, 2014  at a cost of approximately Rs.815 crores. 

With this interconnection, Indian power system has entered into a new era and become one of the largest operating synchronous grids in the world with about 232GW of installed power generation capacity.   Synchronous integration of Southern Grid with rest of the national power Grid shall not only augment the inter-regional power transfer capacity of Southern region but also relieve the congestion being experienced in few transmission corridors. This will be a great boost for further economic growth of the country.

It is likely to take a few months before power flow over this line is stabilized.   Indian Power System is operating through five Regional Grids and a Pan India synchronous grid was envisaged for optimal utilization of the generation resources in the country.

Till now, four regional grids namely Northern, Eastern, Western and North-eastern regions (NEW grid) were connected synchronously and Southern Region (SR) was connected to this NEW grid through HVDC links. Synchronous interconnection of SR with NEW grid was envisaged through high capacity 765 kV Raichur – Sholapur lines, as an ultimate step towards establishment of an “All India Synchronous National Grid” facilitating bulk transfer of power across regional boundaries.

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Trial linking of national and southern power grids to start from today...

 

The Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) will start synchronising the national power grid with the southern power grid on a trial basis on Tuesday. The much-awaited synchronisation is expected to ease electricity shortage in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

The synchronisation was to begin in the first week of January 2014. But the PGCIL decided to begin testing the synchronisation on Tuesday itself as work on the 800 kV line between Raichur in Karnataka and Solapur in Maharashtra had accelerated, officials explained.

Nevertheless, this synchronisation of the two grids would only be a testing phase and continue for sometime, officials with the Southern Regional Load Dispatch Centre told Deccan Herald.

It is said that this synchronisation testing will continue for the next four to six months until the possibility of sustained power reaching the southern states from the north of the country is ascertained. For Karnataka, the synchronisation of the two grids may bring good news. Once the two grids are linked, the State may get close to 1,000 MW of additional power, according to officials. The State has a medium-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with three to four states in the western and northern parts of the country, including Maharashtra and Gujarat.

The KPTCL has, however, estimated that 1,000 MW of power will be received only after the ‘hierarchy of power supply’ is committed. The hierarchy means upper states will have the first right in the supply of power.  At present, the KPTCL estimates that it receives only 500 MW of the 1,500 MW under the PPA which it has signed with the western and northern states. The PPA continues till April-May 2015.

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More power to be transmitted to southern states likely next month...

 

On January 14, a single national power grid would allow seamless pan-India flow of electricity in uniform frequency.

State-owned transmission utility Power Grid Corporation is set to charge its high-voltage (765 KV) transmission line between Solapur in Maharashtra and Raichur in Karnataka by the second week of January, ending isolation of the southern grid, which has remained technically cut-off from the north, east and western grids. The integration of the grids would enable consumers in south Indian states to access electricity at competitive rates from generators in the north, who produce surplus power.

“The project to connect southern grid with high-voltage AC transmission line is in the final leg of execution. We should be handed over the line by contractors in the first week of January so that it could be made operational by January 14,” Power Grid CMD RN Nayak told FE.

He added that though the southern grid was even now connected with the rest of the country, it was through a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) line that does not allow synchronous flow of electricity in a uniform frequency, but merely acts as a tap for regulated supply of power. This prevented the southern grid to automatically access surplus power available on the grid at various points of time to meet its deficit.

Southern grid is one of the five regional grids in the country. While the other four — north, west, east and the northeast — are part of one national grid, the southern grid has remained isolated. While the lack of transmission link to the south has often resulted in higher prices of power in the region, this also came a blessing in disguise during the northern grid collapse on July 30-31 last year when the region remained unaffected while large parts of the country suffered blackouts.

The southern grid connectivity project involves putting in place two circuits of 2,100 MW each on 765 KV lines. While Power Grid Corporation will make the single circuit line of 2,100 MW operational in January 2014, the other line being constructed by Patel Engineering may be up and ready.

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Power Surplus Gujarat to sell 2,100 MW power to the southern statues by Jan '14...

 

The  state-owned electric transmission company — Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCI) — is all set to connect western power grid and southern power grid by the end of January 2014. A transmission line, connecting Raichur in Karnataka and Solapur in Maharashtra, will allow power-surplus states like Gujarat to sell power to southern states.

Till now, Gujarat was not able to sell power directly to the southern power grid as the western and southern grids were not connected. By covering the distance of up to 300 km by next month, PGCI transmission lines will allow Gujarat to sell about 2,100 MW of power.

This project is already under implementation and the company will commercially launch the transmission line next month, said B Mishra, executive director (corporate planning & IT), PGCI. “It is a single line electric transmission of 765 kv having the capacity to transmit 2,100 MW of power.

Till now, the southern power grid was not connected with the entire country. But with this transmission line, the whole country will have a single power grid,” he added.

This means that any western, northern and eastern state will be able to sell or buy power from the southern states. “At present, only Gujarat is the surplus western state which can sell power to other regions, including southern states,” said Mishra, adding that because of various power projects such as solar, wind and others in the state, Gujarat is able to generate surplus power.

“Gujarat has been demanding connectivity between southern and western power grids. We will be ready with the infrastructure. Now, it is up to the state to decide whether it wants to buy or sell power,” he contended

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Grid integration set to boost power supply in South

 

South India is likely to get a boost in electricity supply as the integration of the southern grid to the national grid, scheduled for January next, will allow the region to tap into the other grids.

Work is apace on the 800-kV circuit between Raichur in Karnataka and Sholapur in Maharashtra. At present, the inter-region transfer capacity between the western and southern regions is 1,500 MW.

The new transmission lines between Karnataka and Maharashtra would push it up to 5,500 MW, boosting the power-starved southern region, the only grid that remains isolated from the rest of the nation.

In the past few months, there have been instances of the northern grid or the western region having had surplus power that, however, could not be transferred to Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The reason: the southern region is not plugged into the national grid. But the situation will change as the integration work is likely to be completed by early next year. “We are hoping to make the integration happen by January 2014. We have completed the majority of the work and are hopeful that things will work according to plan,” a senior (Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) official said.

At present, all regional grids, except the southern region, are synchronously interconnected and run at one frequency.
However, the southern region is linked asynchronously to the northern, eastern, north-eastern and western region grids through the high-voltage, direct current transmission system, which has a different frequency.

The synchronisation gained pace after large parts of the country suffered blackouts for almost three days from July 31 last year. The southern grid is being connected by two 765-kV lines, linking Sholapur of the western region to Raichur of the southern region.

Source: The Hindu

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Power Prices in Punjab touches to Rs. 10 per unit due to network congestion...

 

Due to congestion in the power grid, power prices in Punjab are touching to Rs. 10 per unit at the exchanges.

This is the highest price in the country which has surpassed prices for South India which historically remained as highest.

South India prices used to be highest among all regions. But this trend has reversed with Punjab emerging as the state which is buying power at the highest cost nationally.

South India faces high power cost due to grid constraint. Grid connectivity between South India and rest of the country is limited. This has been the major reason for the region buying power at very high costs.

The cause of this issues seems to be the drastic reduction of Punjab's import capability in the recent past.

Punjab's import capability had, in fact, dipped to zero and the state had stopped buying power from the exchanges in the last several days. Now it resumed buying but it had to buy Rs 8 per unit which zoomed to Rs 10 per unit the next day. It has been hovering between Rs 8 and Rs 10 per unit since then.

However, due to rise in demand for power in Punjab, the state has been witnessing a spike in prices. Demand for power rose mainly on account of higher consumption by agriculture during sowing season. The state has already tied up for additional power from other states to meet demand for power. However, that is not enough and the state is now forced to buy power from the exchanges at Rs 10 per unit.

Whilst South India had witnessed a fall in price over the last one month between Rs. 5 per unit and Rs. 3 per unit.

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