The Hindu : BSES to rope in portable generators, mobile sub-stations

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 22, 2003

Other States

Other States - New Delhi

BSES to rope in portable generators, mobile sub-stations

By Lalit K. Jha

NEW DELHI MARCH 21. Bracing itself up for the ensuing summer months, BSES -- which is responsible for distribution of power in two-thirds of the Capital -- has decided to rope in portable transformers and generators and mobile sub-stations so that consumers in the affected areas do not have to face power cuts for long durations.

Said to be a first-of-its-kind effort to tackle the highly demanding consumers of the Capital during this summer when demand for electricity is expected to be around 4,200 MW, sources in BSES said today that orders for four specially fabricated transformers, one in each Circle, have been placed by the private power discom. Colonies under BSES have a past record of four-five transformers breakdowns on an average per day during peak summer days.

As of now, it takes several days for the discoms to replace a burnt out transformer before the power supply is restored. The portable transformers mounted on special vehicle, BSES officials said, would help the discom restore power supply within a few hours of the breakdown. Once the fault in the transformer is rectified or a new one brought, the potable transformer would move to a new place.

Virtually scared of facing public wrath during the crisis period, which BSES expects is bound to come given huge shortages of power this summer, the discom has also placed orders for portable generators of 2,000 kVA. Mounted on large tailor trucks, these huge gen-sets, which BSES officials assert are eco-friendly and meet the international standards, would be rushed to those areas where they expect that power fault could not be rectified for a longer duration.

Asserting that this summer was a challenge for them, the BSES officials said: "Stakes are high not only for us as we have to prove our competence as we arrived here in Delhi about an year ago, but also for Delhi Government as this is an election year,'' officials said. "Our thrust areas is how to manage the outages and how to minimise interruptions on account of these outages,'' they added.

The BSES, which these days has been maintaining low profile and at times gives the impression of not being as professional as the Tata Power which manages one-third of Delhi, is also planning to have "mobile packaged sub-stations'', the talks for which are going on with some reputed multinational companies. "Focus is to restore power supply as quickly as possible,'' officials said. It would take another few months, before all these are in place, the official said.

In another decision, the BSES has ordered that all the maintenance and repair work -- except for emergency -- be carried out in nights. Besides, the standards for maintenance and repair equipments have been redrawn. Most spare parts have been purchased from reputed multinational companies and put in stock for the summer months. For instance, the joints for high-tension cable termination have been purchased from ABB. As many as 21 mobile vans carrying all equipment required for repair and maintenance are already in place to take care of the local faults.

Having done all these preparations, the BSES officials are still not sure about their fate and people's wrath this summer. "It all demands on the temperature. If it is two degrees above normal, we are in for a major crisis. In such a scenario no one can save us as the demand for power would shoot up which can not be made available to the consumers. On the other hand, if the maximum temperature is two degrees below normal, we will have a cool summer,'' another BSES official said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Other States

Stories in this Section

Govt. rejects Lokayukta's proposal

BSES to rope in portable generators, mobile sub-stations