The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Four projects to streamline power supply

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Sunday, Jun 29, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Four projects to streamline power supply

Chitra V. Ramani

BESCOM will implement them in Bangalore in the next five years

Automated system will help reduce interruption in power supply
Aerial Bunched Cable System will bind together all the wires

Bangalore: Four ambitious projects have been proposed to solve the problems plaguing electricity supply in the city.

Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Ltd. (BESCOM) will implement these projects over the next five years. With the implementation, it hopes to reduce interruption in power supply and improve efficiency.

The four projects are Distribution Automation System, Aerial Bunched Cable System, Compact Transformer Stations and Single Pole Mounted Transformer Centre. Tushar Giri Nath, Managing Director of BESCOM, said with the implementation of Distribution Automation System, the company would be able to monitor the entire distribution network, which would translate into better management in the event of localised failures.

“With its implementation, we will be able to conduct energy audit. There will be better reliability in power supply and will help to improve efficiency,” he said. A consumer in Bangalore now faces around 65 hours of interrupted power supply a year. With the automated system, the interruption may be reduced to the international standard of around 30 hours.

The city’s landscape is full of tangled electricity wires. The Aerial Bunched Cable System will bind together all the wires in a tight bundle, which is much safer. “This has proven to be more economical than underground cables. There is no need for road cutting and the city’s green cover need not be destroyed. It will also help the company keep a check on power theft,” Mr. Giri Nath said. The project would be implemented in the city’s congested areas and in slums. A total of 5,000 km of low-tension lines in the city would be taken up under the project, he said.

BESCOM will install compact transformer stations near arterial roads, busy junctions and commercial establishments. These transformers are safe to operate and repair. They also decongest the footpath. “The transformer is enclosed in a metal covering that is also aesthetic. We have identified 700 transformers across the city and have replaced 200 of them. The rest will be replaced over the next two years,” he said.

Mr. Girinath said that to make footpaths safer for pedestrians, BESCOM would convert all transformer centres other than conventional transformers into Single Pole Mounted Transformers. The benefit was that the transformer would occupy less space on the footpath. In this project, more than 15,000 transformer centres would be replaced.

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