Electricity

He was speaking to the TOI on Wednesday night about the current power situation. In response to a question about power shortage being an issue in the forthcoming elections, Walse-Patil said the government would convince the people that it was doing enough to mitigate the situation. "I have a concrete plan which was placed before the house and various fora. When we took over charge we accepted that power shortage was a serious problem and some time will be needed to solve it," he said adding that despite the power shortage they have not stopped giving new connections.

POWER FOR ALL
* State will have enough power by 2012 n We will have our own projects at Khaparkheda, Bhusawal, Chandrapur, Koradi, Uran and Parali in five years n Power shortage hasn't affected investment in the state n All the power utilities are doing a good job n Despite power shortage we have not stopped giving new connections n Minister to meet the SSIs in Pimpri-Chinchwad soon n Government generation plants should be given priority while supplying coal

When asked why the Maharashtra state power generation company ltd was lagging behind as against the distribution company (MSEDCL), the minister said all the power utilities were doing a good job. "There are many hurdles in setting up new plants, getting land, water and fuel being the major ones. But in the next five years we will have our own projects/expansions at Khaparkheda, Bhusawal, Chandrapur, Uran, Parali, and Koradi. It takes about six years for completion of a project."

The minister denied that frequent change of guard at the erstwhile Maharashtra state electricity board (MSEB) and the MSEDCL after restructuring has affected performance of the state utilities. Energy experts Prayas had pointed to appointment of eight officials in 10 years saying that frequent transfers did not leave much time for planning. "After the MSEB was restructured in 2005, only Sanjay Bhatia (who was managing director of the MSEDCL) was transferred. Nobody has left after that," Patil said.

"There is an increase in power prices due to growing demand throughout the country. Tata Power Company is unable to procure and supply additional power at the prescribed rate to fill the power gap in the zero loadshedding model run jointly by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Ltd (MSEDCL) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)," said Ajay Bhushan Pandey, managing director of MSEDCL.

The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) had allowed MSEDCL to purchase power from Tata Power Company at a maximum Rs 8.54 per unit to fill the gap in Pune Model, he said. But the company had expressed its inability to do so, due to an increase in power prices, he added.

"We plan to continue the Pune model. In a recent review meeting with CII and NGO Prayas, it has been decided to approach MERC to seek an increase in prices for power procurement from Tata Power Company to overcome the deficit. This will be done through a proposal to increase the reliability charge from consumers," Pandey said.

There is no other way for MSEDCL to keep the Pune model operational, he said, adding that the deficit in November last year was 180 MW, which increased to 308 MW for the same month this year, due to a rise in demand.

The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court will hear a petition against MSEDCL for allegedly favouring some cities for uninterrupted power, Pandey said.

An official statement issued here stated that Ajay Bhushan Pandey, Managing Director of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (Mahavitaran) signed an agreement with S N Goel of NTPC at a function held in Mumbai.

In a memorandum submitted to S.P. Nagtilak, chief engineer of the Pune zone, founder of SNM Vivek Velankar said his organisation has received complaints from consumers saying they have had to buy materials like cables, fuses and meters for maintenance work.

"Maintenance and other material scarcity is an important issue in the Pune zone. We have been following up with MSEDCL to make this material available. They have been informed that even requisitioned material for maintenance is not provided on time and in adequate quantity," the memorandum said, adding that this has resulted in poor customer service.

Recently, the managing director of MSEDCL promised he would ensure there was no shortage of any material in Pune zone. "We have been receiving complaints from consumers which shows that the situation has still not improved. As a result, MSEDCL staff are forcing consumers to buy cables, fuses and other material," Velankar said.

These views were expressed at a workshop on Pune model of zero loadshedding organised by the Institution of Engineers to mark its golden jubilee. Jayant Deo, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of Indian Energy Exchange presided over the workshop.

Addressing the gathering, Shantanu Dixit of Prayas energy group said that though they had earlier estimated 150 MW as sufficient energy to keep Pune free from load-shedding, MSEDCL increased this requirement to 304 MW. "There is no scientific basis and justification for the revised demand stated by the MSEDCL. We first need to establish the exact requirement of power for Pune," he said.

Dixit also pointed out that even TPTCL has failed to supply 150 MW power from October 1 onwards despite making an advance contract at an average rate of Rs 8.54 per unit. "Tata power has been able to supply only 45 MW to 90 MW per day and we need to be vigilant and see if the franchisee is honouring its agreement," he said.

Dixit felt that the success of Pune model has taught us that the society can solve its problems if its different sections, like consumer organisations and industry bodies come together to find solutions. "It has also taught us that consumers have to be extremely vigilant in the entire process," he added.

Vivek Velankar, founder of Sajag Nagrik Manch, charged that it was carelessness on MSEDCL's behalf and its failure to forecast the demand and supply correctly that has hindered the smooth functioning of the Pune model. "MSEDCL had admitted in its own affidavit, filed before the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court, that some of its officials were not following the load shedding protocol and had to be pulled up," he said.

If Merc approves the revised protocol, then the 150 MW additional power already contracted by the franchisee Tata power trading company Ltd (TPTCL) exclusively for Pune to prevent loadshedding from October 1, 2008, to May 2009, will not be enough to avert power cuts. However, if the regulator rejects the proposed protocol, then Puneites will not have to suffer loadshedding.

The Merc on Monday directed MSEDCL to submit an additional data to justify the proposed change during the next 10 days. The regulator is likely to give its verdict three to four days after the power utility submits the data.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) said that industries in the Pune city and district, there are around 41,400 big, medium and small industries here, will not receive power for a stretch of 32 hours from 4 pm on Wednesdays to midnight on Thursdays.

The statement also said that following a reduction in demand and availability of power, the emergency weekly off of 24 hours for non-continuous industries on express feeders has been relaxed. However these industries have been asked to reduce consumption by 10 per cent of their average monthly consumption of last year.

"However, malls, shopping centres (non-industrial consumers) on express feeders will continue to have the 24-hour emergency off," the statement said.

The admission was made in a petition submitted to the Maharashtra electricity regulatory commission (Merc) for seeking approval for the revised load-shedding protocol, enforced from September 2. The MSEDCL has also supplied data sought by NGOs, Prayas and Sajag Nagrik Manch in August complaining about excessive power cuts in Pune and non-compliance of the load-shedding protocol fixed by the Merc.

To substantiate its claim about inadequate capacity addition, the MSEDCL has attached the demand-supply position of the state for the months from April - August for FY 2005-06 to FY 2008-09.

The petition said that after August 13, the average rainfall in the state dropped and power demand increased suddenly from 10,000 to 13,500 MW, taking the shortfall up to 4,400 MW. Hence the existing protocol was insufficient to mitigate the demand-supply gap which resulted in extra high voltage feeder (EHV) opening, the MSEDCL said.

The government would shortly roll out an exercise to set up a supervisory control and data acquisition (Scada) system to manage energy generation and transmission systems.

Power Finance Corporation would be the nodal agency for the project covering all cities and towns that have a population of more than 4 lakhs, a government official said.

The project involves preparation of base-line data for consumer indexing, geographical information system (GIS) mapping, metering of transformers and feeders and asset mapping of the entire distribution network, including poles and other equipment. It will also include adoption of information technology applications for meter reading, billing and collection, energy accounting and auditing.

Such a system was necessary to develop applications and tools for preventing faults from developing into large-scale outages the one seen in the US in 2003, the official said.

The Pune division CEO of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL), R B Gautam, reiterated that as long as power is available there would be no load shedding. But power was available and there was load shedding

IEX is a nationwide automated and online electricity trading platform. Its CEO, Jayant Deo, said it had 9,663 MW available and sold 5463 MW at rates between Rs 2.90 and Rs 8.90 per unit. Tata Power Company did not purchase power for Pune on Thursday, Deo said.

The city still needs 150 MW of power, Gautam said, adding that load shedding would be enforced when power was not available. On Thursday, areas under Group B like Rasta Peth and others faced power cuts up to four-and-a-half hours.

Barely two days after the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) announced adequate availability of power to keep Pune free from load-shedding, Puneites were on Wednesday subjected to over three hours of power cut on the ground that electricity was not made available by Tata Power Trading Company Ltd (TPTCL).

Interestingly,about 13,775 MW hrs power was available for sale on Wednesday through the newly set up National Energy Exchange, Delhi (NEE),at the rate of Rs 2.78 per unit during night time and Rs 8.95 per unit during peak hours, Jayant Deo, managing director and chief executive officer of NEE, told TOI. He said that only 3,500 MW hrs power was actually lifted by buyers and there was still 10,000 MW hrs power left.

However, MSEDCL officials told TPTCL that power bought through the NEE will not be accepted and that it will have to supply only `firm' power, that is power booked in advance on contract basis.

The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) on Monday announced that TPC provided an additional 150-200 MW and hence power cuts will no longer be necessary in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. Zero load shedding will remain only if the company can continue to provide additional power.

A statement issued by MSEDCL chief engineer R B Gautam said Tata Power Company was able to provide additional power from August 16 and hence there would be zero load shedding. There was a shortfall of 150-200 MW in Pune and since the company could meet the requirements, there will be no power cuts. However the MSEDCL will have to revert to power cuts if the company fails to continue the additional supply of power, he clarified.

The last month has seen Puneites suffer power cuts of durations ranging between from hours 45 minutes and six-and-a-half hours a day. The load shedding protocol was revised as and when the power supply improved. Rains in August helped meet the agricultural load and power cuts were of a shorter duration.

The expected demand in the state during the morning is 9,400 MW and the available power is 6,730 MW while in the evening hours the demand is 11,200 MW while the availability is to the tune of 8,385 MW. The shortfall is 2,500-2,800 MW.

According to Shantanu Dixit of Prayas Energy Group and Vivek Velankar of Sajag Nagrik Manch the MSEDCL had increased load shedding in the state since mid July to cope with the sustained demand from agricultural consumers due to delay in rain and failure of certain power stations.

However with the onset of rain since the last few days, the demand supply scenario has improved substantially, they pointed out. In it's recent tariff order, MERC estimated that, in case of state-wide load shedding being in the range of 4500 MW, the load shedding in A divisions in other areas would be about 2.75 hrs. With state wide load shedding at around 3000 MW, the load shedding in different divisions should be reduced significantly, as per load shedding protocol mandated by MERC.

Both Dixit and Velankar point out that in several cases MSEDCL is still continuing with load shedding of more than 3 hours in A divisions also.

Even on Mondayload shedding of 5.45 hours and 6.30 hours was carried out in A and B divisions respectively.

State co-operative minister Patangrao Kadam, addressing a press conference on Thursday, said that out of 17 approved cogeneration projects, tenders for 11 projects have been approved at the state-level meeting held at Pune on Thursday. The approval for remaining six projects will be given in next three months. The 17 projects will draw a total investment of Rs 1,248, generating 288 MW power.

Kadam said that the state has approved 55 cogeneration projects with the power generation capacity of 1000 MW. 33 projects with a capacity of 548 MW will start in the first phase. The expected investment for 33 projects is Rs 2,300 crore. The tenders for all 33 projects will be approved within a year. Kadam stated that power generation has already started at 10 sites with a generation capacity of 112 MW. He said, "The projects also have been approved under various schemes. Three cogeneration projects are approved through `Urjankur' scheme with the power generation capacity of 95 MW and another three projects are approved under BOOT with the generation capacity of 45 MW. All the remaining projects will be given approvals in next 6 to 8 months."

"11 projects granted clearance on Thursday are Sonhira, (Sangli), Purna (Hingoli), Samarth (Jalna), SMS Patil (Solapur), Vasantdada (Nasik), Someshwar(Pune), S Mandik ( Kolhapur), Vasantrao Naik (Sangli), Viththal (Solapur), Ashok (Ahemadnagar) and Kranti (Sangli)," said Rajgopal Devra, state sugar commissioner.

"The government has also agreed to bear 5 per cent of total outlay required to set up co-generation project. While the government also has made provision of Rs. 100 crore for this in the state budget for 2008-09," said Kadam.

Speaking to TOI on Tuesday, Pravin Tupe, joint city engineer, electricity department, PCMC, said the sodium vapour lamps will be replaced by new High Pressure Ionised Tube (HPIT) lamps to conserve electricity.

Aundh-Ravet road is one of the longest and busiest roads in the Pimpri-Chinchwad township. It is around 14.5 km long and links Ravet, Thergaon, Kalewadi, Rahatni, Pimpale Saudagar, Sangvi and the neighbouring areas to Aundh, Shivajinagar and Pune.

Tupe said there were around 982 streetlight poles along the road. These comprise around 600 poles with sodium vapour lamps of 250 Watt and the rest of 150 Watt.

He added that the PCMC would save 5 lakh unit electricity per year resulting in a saving of Rs 14 lakh.