Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Industries hit by power cuts

COIMBATORE: Industries in Coimbatore have expressed concern over the additional power disruptions the units face apart from the weekly power holiday.

Apart from the 24 hour-weekly power holiday on Saturday, the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board has requested the units to use generator sets between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. every day.

The units also face two hours power disruption daily. Thus, the industries suffer from nearly 60 hours of power disruptions a week, says Jayakumar Ramdass, president of the Southern India Engineering Manufacturers’ Association.

Several micro and small units do not have generator sets and hence do not run the industries when there is no power supply.

Foundries are not able to run the furnace using the generator sets. Even the other companies are now using just 60 per cent of the capacity and if the situation continues, it can lead to unemployment.

According to K.V. Srinivasan, chairman of the Southern India Mills’ Association, the mills are using just 65 per cent to 70 per cent of the capacity now.

The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board has issued a notification inviting tenders for procurement of short-term power from captive power plants and co-generation units in the State by the board.

“This is not workable since the units will have to invest heavily to create facilities and feed the energy generated to the grid,” he says.

The captive power plants were set up primarily as a back-up facility. “Time and again the board says the power shortage is a temporary problem. But the energy demand has crossed the limit and no additional generation facility has been created to meet this, except the wind mills,” he adds.

Apart from the power cuts, the units face tripping too.

Mr. Ramdass and Mr. Srinivasan say the State has over 2,000 MW of generator captive power capacity with the industries.

While the grid power costs about Rs. 4.50 a unit, the industries have to spend about Rs. 11 a unit while using the generator sets.

The board is said to be buying power at Rs. 5 to Rs. 15 from private power producers under Memorandum of Understanding route and incurs nearly 20 per cent transmission/distribution loss. They can instead encourage the industries to use the captive power plants by paying the variable cost.

The Government should encourage new investments in the State only if the units have captive power plants, says Mr. Ramdass.

The Government should restrict the power cut to 24 hours a week. It should reduce the maximum demand charges and ensure adequate availability of diesel for the units to run the generator sets, says Mr. Srinivasan. Coimbatore is a highly industrialised district and if the situation continues, it will paralyse the units here, they add.

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