Looking at The Challenges Faced by Power Transmission Sector in India

by Soni Thakkar Marketing Manager

Looking at the challenges faced by power transmission company in India, the first thing that tops the list is unavailability of fuel. Although there are alternative sources other than coal, but still more than 50% of the power generation for the next two decades at least is largely dependent on coal itself. In case of coal-fired plant, there are quite a few issues that have cropped up in recent times like the question of land acquisition and environment clearance. In recent times, it has been noted that non-availability of coal has led to the use of expensive imported coal. As a result, operational expenses have increased manifold; this in turn has decreased the profit amount for most power transmission companies in India.

In case of power transmission and distribution system, many companies have faced challenges related to frequency disturbances. Transmission problems are actually hurting power trading as well. As per a recent study, the power sector cannot use 10% of its total capacity due to a choked transmission system. And this has hurt power projects of almost all the leading power transmission companies in India. Due to inadequate transmission, almost 25,000 Mw of generation capacity now sits idle. Also, another challenge which is acutely faced by many is the strict restriction regarding utilization of permanent networks by the regulating authority. A large amount of transmission capacity is deliberately kept idle as safeguard in case of grid collapse.

Not only is the power transmission network facing problems, but it is the power distribution system as well which is facing the brunt. Key issues like overloading of the distribution system without any proper forecast or analysis of electric current flow are leading to wastage. The unorganized growth of sub transmission and distribution system with only short-term objectives is also ruining the bigger picture. In many cases, the use of poor-quality equipments is also a major cause of concern.

Answers to challenges

As per the leading power transmission companies in India, an efficient transmission and distribution system is absolutely essential. Apart from increasing the efficiency of the system, it is also important to decentralize the entire energy production system. Take for instance the case of solar power. Most solar panels are extremely expensive because they normally produce DC power. It is extremely expensive to convert DC power to AC power and then integrate it with a centralized grid. As a result the entire distribution system turns out to be inefficient and collapse very easily. The need of the hour calls for decentralization of energy production and at the same time work on technologies which will work on DC power.

The question of sustainability also comes to the picture once the challenges are discussed broadly. It is extremely important to search for means which will help in conservation of energy, and lead to investment on renewable energy as well.

Although the companies are trying to focus on investment and development of renewable energies along with sustainable technologies, there is a still a long way to go. The combination of the mentioned factors will bring a drastic change in the power transmission scenario of India.