Electricity Dept. executes several infrastructure works for summer

Officials of the Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (TNPDCL) claim residents of the city will not have to spend sleepless nights wondering about continuous power supply this summer, as they have upgraded infrastructure and are confident that this will support any excess power demand.

Officials said that they have commissioned several transformers and substations, installed underground power cable, and increased the capacity of the power transformers in the substations.

A senior official of the Electricity Department shared details of the work executed over the past two years. He said the city has a peak demand of nearly 3,600 mega watt (MW) during summer (March to June).

Considering the increasing demand in the northern region, which covers the central commercial area of Anna Salai, industrial belts of Manali and Minjur, also Kolathur, Ambattur, and Avadi, the Electricity Department has commissioned seven sub stations and 19 additional power transformers.

The new 33-kilo volt (KV) substations have been established at Broadway, Mundakanni Amman in Mylapore, Ganesh Nagar in Kolathur, and two substations at Paruthipattu near Avadi. The installation of power transformers in the substations help provide sustained power supply to the city, he explained. The Electricity Department has also installed power transformers covering substations of Ganesh Nagar, Mathur, Ennore, Madhavaram, Kodungaiyur, Athipattu, and Alamathy.

The Electricity Department has identified areas with low voltage problems and erected 1,360 distribution transformers in the northern region and completed installing underground cable network for a length of 868 km of high tension lines, and 596 km of low tension lines, as corrective measures.

In addition to replacing more than 5,000 old and damaged concrete poles, damaged conductors have been replaced for a length of 445 km.

Consumer activist T. Sadagopan expressed hope that the Electricity Department would speed up the upgrading of the 110 KV substation in Avadi to 230 KV and setting up a 33 KV substation inside the Tidel Park at Pattabhiram.