CPRI asked to find ways to curb losses

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, APRIL 14. The Union Minister of State for Power, Ms. Jayawanti Mehta, has asked the Central Power Research Institute (CPRI) here to evolve methods to reduce transmission and distribution losses.

Speaking after inaugurating the ``Augmented Loading Facility'' at CPRI on Saturday, she said the current level of transmission and distribution losses was unacceptably high.

Stressing the need for more research in the power sector,

Ms. Mehta said a lack of adequate funds was the main problem facing CPRI, and promised that she would take up the issue with the Government and see that more budgetary allocation was made to the CPRI.

She said the Union Government was all for implementing power sector reforms and urged the CPRI to help the agencies of the State governments to step up reforms.

Ms. Mehta said that at the recent conference of Chief Ministers it was unanimously agreed to go ahead with power sector reforms and hoped that the State governments would take steps in this direction.

The Government was committed to reach the target of one lakh MW of power generation by 2011 and was taking all steps in this direction. It was a commitment made by the late P.R. Kumaramangalam when he was the Union Minister for Power. His dream would be realised, she added.

She complimented the CPRI for its efficient management and commitment to research and development.

Dr. P.K.S. Naidu, Director-General of CPRI, listed the achievements of the institute and said it had grown by leaps and bounds despite the lack of adequate funds. Its turnover had increased tremendously and the institute was able to donate Rs. 5 lakhs to the Gujarat Earthquake Relief Fund.

He said the CPRI had taken up consultancy service and it had entered into MoUs with as many as 14 companies.

Earlier, Ms. Mehta released an audio-visual CD presentation on CPRI facilities. She also visited the Power Systems & Materials Technology Divisions at the institute premises.

Tower testing facility

A facility to test full-scale transmission line towers was established at the CPRI in 1976. The Tower Testing Station of the CPRI functions as a premier testing station in the country for conducting full-scale tests on transmission line towers as per Indian and international standards, according to a press release.

The station is fully equipped with infrastructure for testing towers up to 800 kV. Around 350 towers have been tested at the CPRI which includes towers for exports and towers from countries such as Japan, Australia and Malaysia.

As the overhead lines are exposed to the elements, an analysis is made on the performance of transmission lines to assess whether they have been properly and reasonably designed for the environment in which they are located. Most countries have set up committees of experts to review design methodology and to draft new codes.

Recently, the IEC and BIS revised their codes for designing transmission line towers based on the probability technique, replacing ``factor of safety'' method. This necessitated the augmentation of the existing anchor structures to exactly simulate all the field conditions during testing as recommended in the revised standards.

The facility now available at the Tower Testing Station of the CPRI, is on a par with other stations with state-of-the-art facilities around the world, according to the release issued by the CPRI.

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