Relief is in store for residents of Puducherry who have been reeling under unscheduled power cuts with the commissioning of Venketanagar sub-station. The 10/11 KVA sub-station at Venketanagar is likely to be commissioned sometime in September-October. With the commissioning of this sub-station, Puducherry will get respite from the daily outages.
The construction of the sub-station is complete and the work for laying the cable line (feeder cable) for connecting the transformer to the distribution system is in progress, said K Madhivanan, superintending engineer-I heading the electricity department.
Power Grid Corporation of India which has been awarded the project at an estimated cost of `54 crore has commenced its work which should get over by September, said Madhivanan who inspected the site two days ago.
Despite Puducherry having adequate power, 30 areas in Puducherry are facing power cuts on account of deficiency in infrastructure. With the growth in population and expansion of business and commercial activities, the 110/22KVA transformer supplying power to these areas at Marapalam is unable to meet the demand during peak hours.
The 110/22 KVA transformer at Marapalam gets overloaded often during peak hours and to prevent damages to the equipment, the electricity department is cutting supply on rotation basis to the areas where power is supplied from the transformer.
Currently, the load capacity of the transformer is 57 MVA and the power supply demand is also the same. But during peak hours the demand rises to 62 MVA, which is met by load shedding, he said.
If we didn’t go for load shedding, power trips now and then. On the whole, these unscheduled power cuts are posing difficulties to trade and commerce, professionals and the residents who don’t have any kind of power back up.
Once the Venketa Nagar sub-station is energised, power will be supplied from the substation to Rangapillai Street including the main shopping area of Jawaharlal Nehru street upto Muthilapet.