India’s power transmission
system is fairly robust: GE

CMIE cuts power generation forecast
Mumbai: With the country facing challenges of limited availability of water, coal and natural gas resources, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) has lowered the forecast for power generation to 10.8 per cent from 13.2 per cent for this fiscal. “Power generation forecast for 2012-13 is revised downwards to 10.8 per cent from 13.2 per cent projected earlier. The lower-than-anticipated availability of inputs prompted us to revise generation forecast downwards,” said the economic think-tank in the monthly review. The city-based agency further said the power sector is facing raw material crunch with gas and coal witnessing a steep fall in production. Similarly, the deficient monsoon has aggravated the availability crunch of water in reservoirs which are already at lower levels. CMIE has forecast gas-based generation to fall by 5.7. It has revised coal-based generation to 14.8 per cent from 16.6 per cent, and that based on hydel to four per cent from 6.6 per cent. “The biggest gas player Reliance Industries has been reporting a steep fall in gas production.IANS

The Story overview

Three power grids, serving northern, eastern and north- eastern regions, tripped on July 31.

There are concerns that overdrawing by some states could have led to the collapse.

GE offers suite of smarter grid solutions to increase energy productivity and power reliability.
India needs to focus on reliability of the system-in terms of providing electricity supply.
New Delhi: The global conglomerate-GE Energy-has said that Indian power transmission system is quite robust as compared to many developed nations, and a ‘political will’ is needed to reinforce discipline to avoid situations like the recent grid failure. GE Energy, a part of the US-based multinational giant, said the ‘political will’ was required to ensure that all the parties sharing the power grids follow certain rules. “It is important that we do recognise that. All said and done, I think we in India do have a fairly, relatively speaking, strong and robust transmission system,” said GE Energy’s India Region President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Banmali Agrawala.

“The country’s central transmission system is large and substantial while the failures in that system have been minimal. At one level, it is a good system especially when you compare with many other systems around the world, even the developed places. I think, we have fairly robust transmission system,” Agrawala noted. He stressed, however, that those who share the power transmission grids need to follow the rules. “You will need to have the political will to make sure that the rules around sharing a resource like the grid are followed by all,” Agrawala said.

Though the exact reason for the massive failure of three grids last week are yet to be ascertained, there are concerns that overdrawing by some states could have led to the collapse. “If the consequences of not following the rules are not harsh enough, then you tend to look at those rules with a little bit of leniency. If the consequences were severe, then one follows the rules strictly,” Agrawala noted. Considered to be one of the largest failures in the world, three power grids, serving Northern, Eastern and North Eastern regions, tripped on July 31 affecting more than half of country’s population. The incident took place within a day of another failure of the Northern Grid early on July 30. In India, GE Energy has Power and Water, Oil and Gas, and Energy Management businesses.

GE offers suite of smarter grid solutions to increase energy productivity and power reliability, among others. According to Agrawala, India needs to focus on reliability of the system -- in terms of providing electricity supply. “When we look at the choices made when it comes to power generation, I think affordability somewhere gains number one criteria and then reliability follows to the extent that due to certain notion of unaffordability,” he pointed out.

“The biggest gas player Reliance Industries has also been reporting a steep fall in gas production. This has impacted gas supply to power plants, which prompted us to revise our gas-based generation forecast downwards,” said the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). “A change in coal production forecast necessitated revision as 80-85 per cent of coal requirement is met domestically,” said the agency. PTI
The recent power grid failure has raised alarm bells in India.