Worry not, your fans won’t stop this summer

A family sits outside their home for some cool breeze after a power outage, at Charkop in Kandivli, in October 2020. Pic/Nimesh Dave

TATA Power Company (TPC) has assured an outage-free summer this year, stating that its infrastructure was prepared to meet the city's projected peak demand of 4,000 megawatt, up by 149 megawatt. The power firm handles 70 per cent of Mumbai's electricity demand through its transmission network - TPC-T.

Transmission has been a major concern ever since the city faced two major outages in October 2020 and February 2022. Along with the state-owned transmission company, TPC-T was put in the dock. Inquiries, both by the state and central governments, were conducted to ensure there are no further blackouts in the city where consumers pay more for reliability.

Following a summer forecast of peak demand across the country, higher than the previous years, the TPC and state-owned utility met on Monday to review preparedness. TPC bosses briefed the media persons on Tuesday to submit its plan.

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TPC is significant

In addition to transmission and distribution, TPC also generates power at its Trombay plant. Other utilities serving Greater Mumbai are Adani Electricity (suburbs), BEST (island city) and MSEDCL (eastern suburbs beyond Kanjurmarg). All have tie-ups with generators, such as their own sister companies working outside the city and independent producers. BEST does not have its generation unit and depends on TPC and other companies for a bulk supply, which in turn is distributed to end consumers.

TPC's transmission, generation and distribution arms hold more significance in the city and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), being the oldest company with infrastructure spread across the city.

Sanjay Banga, the TPC's distribution and transmission president, dispelled fears of shortage in the peak summer. "Mumbai is very lucky because tie-ups for procurement (by all companies) will ensure no shortage of power. The forecast suggests only a 5 per cent to 6 per cent spike. It means our load growth is not as expected in the rest of the country. TPC has a power purchase agreement for 1,400MW as against the demand of 1,000MW," he said.

Need for upgrades

According to Banga, the lines that bring power from outside have been upgraded to carry more electricity. "We also feel that it's time we considered doubling the carrying capacity of the ring system from 220KV to 400KV so that we can flow 15,000MW-20,000MW in the system in the next six-seven years. We have submitted a plan to the state regulator for approval," he said, adding that quicker clearances
should serve the city's growing demand. He didn't see coal shortage affecting the generation and predicted a further drop in fossil fuel prices in the days to come.

Improvements since 2020

TPC has improved power carriers and adopted technological advances post the October 2020 event. It has been in close coordination with the State Load Dispatch Centre (agency that monitors load) and other agencies responsible for the grid (major lines that connect the city with the rest of the country). Islanding system, which the city was proud of until it failed to contribute to a total outage in the past, has been upgraded to make it robust. Special load trimming schemes have been put in place to avoid total blackouts. A battery storage that will help immediate ramping up of transmission and save it from being dead has been planned at Trombay.

Peak demand (in megawatt)

Mumbai
Previous: 3,851
Expected: 4,000

Maharashtra
Previous: 28,846
Expected: 30,000

India
Previous: 2,10,610
Expected: 2,30,000