Tamil Nadu - Dharmapuri   

`State tops in wind power production'

Staff Reporter

Availability of lignite decreasing: Minister

Dharmapuri: Tamil Nadu leads the country in wind energy production with a total of 2426 Megawatts of electricity, said the Minister for Information and Publicity and Local Administration, K.P. Anbazhagan here on Sunday.

Speaking at the National Energy Conservation Week celebrations, the Minister said that there was an urgent need to increase power generation in tune with the development of the country. But we are solely dependent on natural resources to meet the energy requirements of the country.

Mr. Anbazhagan said the availability of lignite was rapidly decreasing and according to an estimate would last only for the next 50 to 60 years. As a result power could not be generated on par with the requirements. In an effort aimed at effective utilisation of power, the State Government was encouraging production of power through solar plants, windmills, biogas plants and biomass gasifier.

Based on the steps initiated by the State Government, a biomass gasifier plant had been installed at Periyampatti village in Karimangalam union which was operated by SHGs. A total of 12 units of electricity were being produced through the gasifier unit to meet the energy requirements of the village, including power supply for electric pumps, thereby saving electricity consumption charges. Out of a total of 1.73 lakhs streetlights in Dharmapuri district, a few streetlights were operated even during the day.

Installed

To prevent this Light Censor Switches have been installed on streetlights in several villages in Dharmapuri. These Light Censor Switches automatically turn off the streetlights at sunrise and switch on during sunset.

The Minister said that unmanned sub-stations had been established at an outlay of Rs.10 crores at Paiyarnathampatti, Kelamangalam, Anchetti, Pulikarai, Alapatti, Kutticoundanur, Jawalagiri, Orapam and Kalipettai in the combined Dharmapuri district. A proposal had been sent for establishment of similar sub-stations in other villages.

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