TN power purchase deepens crisis in AP

The Tamil Nadu government’s largescale purchase of electricity has deepened the power crisis in Andhra Pradesh.

At present, Tamil Nadu is buying more than 1,300 MW power every day while AP has to be satisfied with less than 500 MW power.

The massive power purchases by Tamil Nadu is forcing other states operating under the Southern Grid to have increased duration of load shedding.

Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, two states that are experiencing huge power shortage, are unable to get enough electricity because of this. Not only this, the purchase spree by Tamil Nadu has also clogged the transmission corridor. As the state has already booked this corridor to lift more than 1,300 MW power daily, other states are not able to get lines. “The southern grid has lines only to transmit 2,000 MW power,” said a senior official of the energy department. “Since TN is buying a huge amount, it leaves little capacity for the other states.” But energy experts describe this as efficient planning by Tamil Nadu that is keen to manage the critical summer season with relatively fewer hours of power cut. At the same time, the AP government did not act on the requests for power purchase submitted by APTransco about two months back.

“Now, all states have tied up their power,” said a senior APTransco official. “Even if AP wants to buy there is no power available. There are no transmission lines either.”

In desperation, APTransco has invited captive power generators for talks and convinced them to part with about 120 MW power. The Navayuga Power project also agreed to give power to the State grid. “These two developments would certainly give some relief to the system which is under tremendous pressure with increasing demand,” said Mr Ajay Jain, chairman and managing director of APTransco.

- Indian Journalist.