Nayak energises PowerGrid quarterly profit by 20%

Powergrid Corporation of India Limited on Tuesday highlighted costly power charges as the reason behind congestion in its national network and urged for reduction in these prices <g data-gr-id="48">to enable</g> consumption. It also announced an increased 20% Net Profit alongside Total Income rising by 17% to Rs 4,788 crore for Q1, FY2015-16 and Gross Fixed Assets at Rs 122811 crore by June 15, 2015.

“We are presently building the world’s largest multi-terminal 800kV HVDC transmission network from 

Bishwanath Chariali (Assam) to Agra-- stretching 1,750 <g data-gr-id="34">kms</g> and crossing around 40 rivers through the states of Assam, West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh,” said R N Nayak, CMD, PGCIL, told media here.

Replying to questions about ‘congestion’ in the transmission network, he said that though power supply is available in the market, people are not ready to buy such costly power. 

“Power transmission congestion is there but there are other causes <g data-gr-id="37">like:</g> Eastern Region (delay of 14,000 <g data-gr-id="29">mw</g>), Southern Region – (delay of 10,000 <g data-gr-id="30">mw</g>) and Western Region (16,300 <g data-gr-id="31">mw</g> in last two years). The Western and Northern region holds 5,500 <g data-gr-id="32">mw</g> present capacity and any existing congestion will be mitigated through correct planning.”

Describing ‘congestion’ as a signal for building more power lines, he <g data-gr-id="39">said</g> “Congestion is dynamic and a market phenomenon. Unless the power prices are made cheaper, people will not buy it and minor congestion will keep on occurring. 

The Northern Region has <g data-gr-id="45">costly</g> power supply <g data-gr-id="46">and therefore</g> there is power congestion. In the Southern region, we have some congestion which is bound to go soon, but <g data-gr-id="44">transmission</g> is not the culprit for congestion.” Where solar power is concerned, this source had a low gestation period and Rs 5,000 to 7,000 crores investment was being looked at for it, he said adding that three Solar Ultra Mega projects have been started alongside methodology being devised to develop it faster. 

“We are also not using energy efficiently and now we have 75 energy auditors with us providing advice in this regard. We are also in the Processing Industry in Durgapur and <g data-gr-id="40">Bokaro,</g> and have recently developed a furnace “Recuperator” which extracts waste heat and uses it for other purposes. In telecom, we have a tieup with Google for giving them capacity bandwidth.”