On New Year's Eve, the Power Grid Corporation announced the much-awaited synchronisation of the
southern grid with the commissioning of the Raichur - Sholapur 765 KV line. This grid connects four southern states - Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh - and union territory Puducherry. Now this grid would be part of the national grid with an installed capacity of 228 GW - the highest in the world.
The southern grid states faced a power deficit of roughly 5000 MW during the summer season in 2013, with cities like Chennai and Hyderabad facing 10 to 12 hour power cuts. The situation improved after partial commissioning of the nuclear plant in Kondakulam in Tamil Nadu. Most of the planned costal thermal power plants and gas-based units in the south could not take off because of issues related to fuel.
Earlier, the southern grid was connected to the northern, north-eastern and western grids at different frequencies. Once synchronised, power is freely available for trade nationally including the south, and would allow India to push for the SAARC grid. The southern states in the past found it difficult to buy power from surplus states as they were in different transmission corridors.
But problems remain. Currently only 500 MW of power is flowing through this new line. Power Grid officials say that it will be at least another six months before the south can start trading electricity with the rest of the country. The parallel 765KV line connecting Raichur and Sholapur is not ready.
This line was being constructed by Patel Engineering and there is a delay of roughly three months. Moreover, several lines linking these high voltage lines, are also not ready. It would then not be possible to immediately ensure the optimum utilization of the Raichur-Sholapur line. To begin with, only 800 MW power can be transferred on it.
Meanwhile, the media release from the power ministry announcing the syncronisation says that the "integration of the southern grid with the rest of the national grid shall not only augment the inter-regional power transfer capacity of southern region but also relieve the congestion being experienced in a few transmission corridors."
A similar line between Hyderabad and Wardha is still under construction, according to power ministry officials. This line is being constructed by Power Grid and would take another three more years to complete.
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