24×7 Power for All is a joint initiative of Government of India and State Government with an objective to strengthen the power supply infrastructure and make 24X7 reliable and quality power available to all households, industry, commercial businesses, public needs, agriculture and any other electricity consuming entity. Tamil Nadu is already a pioneer state in implementing 24X7 power to all sectors.
Tamil Nadu is situated in the southern peninsula of Indian subcontinent and is surrounded on the north by Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, on the west by Kerala, on the east by the Bay of Bengal and on the south by the Indian Ocean. With a population of over seven crore and an area of 130,058 sq.km, it is the seventh largest in terms of population and 11th largest state in India in terms of area.
Urbanization in Tamil Nadu is highest in the country with urban areas accounting for as high as 48.4% of state’s population as against national average of 31.2%. The state provides free electricity to agricultural consumers to boost the primary sector output of the state. Tamil Nadu is one of the early achievers of 100% village electrification and has the largest wind and solar power generation capacity across the country. The state has been maintaining almost 24 hours power supply to all categories of consumers.
Tamil Nadu Power Sector at a Glance
Formed in 1957, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board was constituted as a vertically integrated entity responsible for power generation, transmission and distribution. In line with the requirement of Electricity Act 2003, the entity was restructured into one holding and two subsidiary companies with TNEB Ltd as holding company. The subsidiary TANTRANSCO Ltd was created to undertake transmission in the state, while the generation and distribution was vested into TANGEDCO Ltd. The State Regulator Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) was established and became operational from July 2, 1998. TNERC carries out its function and roles in accordance with applicable provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003.
Generation Plan
The state has an installed capacity of 24,433 MW as on 31.03.2016. Tami Nadu has one state owned generation company – TANGEDCO. In addition, there are various central and private generating companies. By FY17 the installed capacity is expected to increase by about 2,509 MW from thermal sources including 165 MW from cogeneration sources and another 5,100 MW from renewable energy sources (Wind, Solar and other Sources). The expected capacity additions are in line with the anticipated peak demand projections. The state is expecting capacity additions of about 2,509 MW from thermal sources including cogeneration plants and Central sector’s plants such as NTPC, NLC and NPCIL.
The company operates four large thermal power stations:
- Ennore Thermal Power Station (ETPS) – 450 MW (2×60, 3×110 MW)
• Mettur Thermal Power Station (MTPS) – 1440 MW (4×210, 1×600 MW)
• North Chennai Thermal Power Station (NCTPS) 1830 MW (3×210 MW, 2×600 MW)
• Tuticorin Thermal Power Station (TTPS) – 1050 MW (5×210 MW)
TANGEDCO is undertaking construction of following four new upcoming Thermal Power Projects,
- 660 MW ETPS Expansion project,
• 1,320 MW Ennore SEZ project,
• 800 NCTPP Stage III and
• 1,600 MW Uppur Thermal power project
TANGEDCO is undertaking R&M of TTPS, MTPS, and NCTPS thermal power stations. The company has availed funds from PFC and REC for implementing the R&M projects in the state. The State Generation Company TANGEDCO has tied up funds for new and R&M projects in the state.
Transmission Plan
The planning and development of intra-state transmission system in the state is undertaken by Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation (TANTRANSCO). The existing transmission system is adequate for evacuation and transmission of power and the transmission plan in at ensuring adequacy of transmission infrastructure for evacuation of such power from the inter-state boundary and proposed generating plants within the state to the end consumers located across various geographies of the state. The intra-state system is maintained and operated by TANTRANSCO, which is a subsidiary of TNEB Limited. As on 31.03.2016, the existing intra state transmission network comprises of 908 EHV grid substations with 59,953 MVA capacities along with 30,331.6 ckt km associated transmission lines. The interstate transmission system operated and maintained by PGCIL consists of 8,127 ckt km of lines and 9,300 MVA of transformation capacity. By FY19 the intra-state transformation capacity is proposed to be enhanced to 94,217 MVA (which includes additional 8,640 MVA for Renewable Corridor) and 33,768 ckm of intra-state transmission lines.
The state transmission utility TANTRANSCO has proposed investments for meeting its anticipated demand as well as providing connectivity to the upcoming renewable energy corridors. TANTRANSCO is focusing on efficient operation and maintenance practices to provide stable and quality power with maximum transmission system availability and minimum transmission system losses.
Distribution Plan
Distribution of electricity in the state is managed by the state distribution utility – TANGEDCO. It is the sole distribution licensee in the state. The company was formed in 2010 when the erstwhile TNEB limited was restructured into corporate entities.
During the period FY16 to FY19 the peak demand (including wheeling demand) and energy requirement (including wheeling sales) is expected to increase from 14,533 MW and 1,00,319 MU in FY16 to 17,651 MW and 1,17,487 MU in FY19. This is due to increase in natural demand from the present consumer base and more importantly because of the initiatives proposed under this.
The distribution network of TANGEDCO comprises of 66 kV, 33 kV, 22 kV and 11 kV sub-transmission systems. This forms the distribution backbone at the district level and LT distribution systems and delivers electricity to majority of the end consumers. TANGEDCO has 31.97 lakhs unmetered consumers as on March 2016. TANGEDCO is monitoring SAIFI and SAIDI values of the R APDRP towns in the state.
The state distribution utility TANGEDCO is in advanced stages of completing the RGGVY (Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana) scheme. Further, the utility has already started implementing R-APDRP schemes across the state. In addition to these centrally sponsored schemes, the utility is also adding network under ADB funded schemes. For meeting the network requirement of existing consumers and extending the distribution network to the newly constructed HHs, the utility has proposed enhancement of network by means of addition in HT network, LT network and additional power and distribution transformers and various other improvement works. This plan will increase the number of DTs from 2,64,029 in FY16 to 3,20,681 in FY19, similarly the LT network will increase from 6,09,544 kms in FY16 to 644,603 kms in FY19. These network additions are proposed with an investment of ` 9,348 crore. The IT initiatives proposed by TANGEDCO are mostly covered under the R-APDRP Part A schemes. TANGEDCO has proposed construction of a Data Centre (DC) at Chennai and Disaster Recovery Centre (DRC) at Madurai. Data Centre (DC) has been commissioned at Chennai. DRC Works are under progress in Madurai. Around 100 towns have been made ‘Go-Live’ and are connected to DC over MPLS-VPN.
Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency
The state of Tamil Nadu is blessed with various forms of renewable energy sources viz., Wind, Solar Biomass, Biogas, Small Hydro etc. The state has emerged as a major hub for development of renewable energy in the last few years and presently approximately 40% of the total installed capacity in the state is from RE sources. The Govt of Tamil Nadu set up the Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency (TEDA) in 1985 to promote the use of new and renewable energy sources and promote energy conservation activities in the state.
The state has RE installed capacity of 9,687 MW (as of September 2016). The RE installed capacity is mostly contributed by wind (7,642 MW) followed by solar (1,155.4 MW). The state has planned off-grid renewable solutions to cater to the growth in demand in far-flung areas with poor accessibility.
This includes 5,787 standalone solar solutions. Future plans for renewable capacity addition includes addition of 5,265 MW of renewable energy through investments by private sector.
Energy Efficiency Plan
TANGEDCO has been selected under BEE’s Capacity building of DISCOMs program to establish the energy saving potential in various sectors by conducting load research across the state. The selection of consultant for conducting the load research has been completed. The Load Survey in all consumer categories including domestic, commercial, industrial, educational institutions etc. has been completed.
Distribution of 1 crore LEDs comprising of 2 LEDs per household at a subsidized rate of `10/- per LED to all metered domestic services (consuming less than 500 units bimonthly) in five cities viz Chennai, Coimbatore Madurai, Trichy and Tirunelveli is under consideration.
Other Initiatives
For the training needs of the employees Tamil Nadu power sector has four training institutes which cater to hydro, thermal, transmission and distribution, management and safety training needs to its employees. Ten Centers were established to cater the needs of staff in distribution areas. One Cable Jointing Training and development Centre has also been created to impart both the officers & work force of TANGEDCO & TANTRANSCO (formerly TNEB) in the field of UG power cables & jointing techniques and in both theory and practical.
Future Energy Scenario
Future Energy Scenario Energy projections for Tamil Nadu based on the 18th Draft Electric Power Survey with respect to future energy requirements suggest an increase in annual energy requirement:
- 80.69 billion units (BU) present
• 110.25 BU by 2016-17
• 154.59 BU by 2021-22 The corresponding increase in peak load is expected to grow to
• 11,971 MW 2011-12 (past number) to
• 18,994 MW by 2016-17
• 26,330 MW by 2021-22
The Vision Tamil Nadu 2023 document released by the state chief minister on 22 March 2012, envisages a massive investment of ` 4,50,000 crore (` 4500 billion) in the state energy sector.
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