Cyclone-Prone Andhra Pradesh To Switch Over To Underground Power Cable

[Spartan]

Cyclone-prone Andhra Pradesh is likely to become the first state in the country to supply electricity through underground cable system.

The massive changeover from the conventional pole system to underground cabling has been made possible due to a loan of Rs 716 crore granted by the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and Japan Bank.

Under the ambitious plan, a separate power supply line will be laid across 10 coastal districts at an estimated cost of Rs 838 crore.

Of this, the loan provided by ADB, WB and Japan Bank would account for Rs 716 crore at a nominal interest rate.

"Under this project, a separate transmission and distribution system will be constructed underground at a distance of 5 km from the east coast. This will completely eliminate power supply failures due to cyclones and flash floods," K Vijayanand, chairman and managing director of AP Transco told TOI.

 

 

In the first phase, 620 km of transmission and about 800 km of distribution powerlines under the limits of the Eastern Power Discom is to be laid. This will cover Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari and West Godavari districts. It is estimated that this phase would cost Rs 379 crore, of which Rs 303 crore will come as external assistance. In the second phase, 738 km of transmission and 800 km of distribution line will be laid covering the districts of Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, Nellore and Chittoor under the limits of the Southern Power Discom. This will cost Rs 459 crore, of which Rs 413 crore will come as external funding. "We are planning to complete the project in two years from the date of tender finalization," said Vijayanand.

Hudhud cyclone had devastated the entire power supply network leaving the Discoms and AP Transco bleeding with heavy losses. While AP discoms incurred Rs 706.1 crore loss due to the cyclone, AP Transco suffered Rs 247.48 crore loss and rural electrification cooperatives across the state incurred Rs 72.4 crore loss.

It was following the devastating effect of the cyclone that chief minister Chandrababu Naidu directed AP Transco and AP Genco officials to plan for underground cabling across the coastal districts. After a series of meetings with international banks, AP Transco managed to rope in the three banks to fund the project.

"More than 48,000 poles were replaced in one month to provide electricity supply to over 28.8 lakh consumers in the three north coastal Andhra districts. To ensure that this kind of disruption does not recur, we are going for underground cabling," said Vijayanand. Of the total loss of Rs 1,022.8 crore incurred by the power network system, the Centre is to compensate Rs 400 crore under the cyclone mitigation plan. AP Transco wants to utilize the funds to modernize the present transmission and distribution system to improve service to the power consumers.