Surplus power from South to North soon

Chennai: Union minister of state for power and new and renewable energy Piyush Goyal on Friday said that export of surplus power from South to North would be possible once transmission capacity is expanded.

“Expanding the green corridor is the mission of the Central government,” Mr Goyal said when asked about the Tamil Nadu government’s demand for transmission corridor to export surplus renewable power.

Speaking to reporters here after inaugurating green technology innovations by IIT Madras, Mr Goyal said that Tamil Nadu was one of the beneficiaries of Rs 40,000 crore green corridor project sanctioned by the Modi government.

He also said that he had held talks with Karnataka government on July 12 on the problems of right of way that hindering expansion of the transmission
network coming to South India.

“We had a very fruitful discussion. Some of the projects are inordinately delayed. I am personally monitoring to see that we can expand transmission capacity to South India. Once that is surplus, than we will be able to have reverse flow of  power from South to North,” he said, adding that works are on to increase the transmission capacity by three times to 18,000 mw by 2020 from present 3,450 mw.

Listing out various achievements of the two-year-old Narendra Modi government, he said that thanks to efforts of the Central government, South India had become power surplus. He noted that the cost of the power available at the power exchange in South India has come down on par with the rates available in North India. He said that till two years ago, the state used to buy power at a cost of Rs 8 to 14 per unit during peak summer. He said that earlier Tamil Nadu has to buy power at the exchange paying five times higher price than North Indian states. “Now we have almost brought the cost of power on the par with North India,”  he pointed out.

After urging Tamil Nadu to sign the Centre’s Uday scheme meant for the revival of debt ridden power distribution companies, he also put the ball on state’s court saying that TN is free to accept or reject the scheme as it is a voluntary one.  “They (Tamil Nadu) are free to accept or reject. It is a voluntary scheme. We have placed before the government. It will help the Tamil Nadu government and it will help people of Tamil Nadu to save about Rs 22,000 crore over the next three years. And it will further result in saving of over Rs 7,000 crore every year,” he said.