Power Restoration Works In Full Swing

The power utilities of Andhra Pradesh are putting in all-out efforts to restore the power supply disrupted due to the devastation caused by Cyclone HudHud in the AP coastal line, especially in the worst-hit Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts.

Restoration/relief operations are in full swing.

Disclosing the above details, Energy Secretary Ajay Jain, who is continuously reviewing the cyclone relief works with regard to the power sector, said that the cyclone, gales and winds gusting at around 200 km speeds had caused severe bus and earth faults, which had in turn damaged the substation equipment, poles, transformers, transmission and distribution lines etc.

2 400 KV sub-stations, 10 220 KV sub-stations and 25 132 KV sub-stations have been severely hit by the cyclone. Around 20,000 poles have been broken/damaged, and the 2,000 MW Simhadri power plant has been shut down.

Jain, directors and other senior officers are staying throughout the night in the State Load Despatch Centre / Vidyut Soudha for effective monitoring and personal supervision of the power supply restoration works on a minute-to-minute basis.

Meanwhile, start-up power supply to Simhadri, the 2,000 MW power plant at Visakhapatnam, has been restored from the Vemagiri 400 KV sub-station. Officials are working expeditiously to arrange alternate supply from several sources to Visakhapatnam by tonight.

Jain said that the cyclone had affected the power supply in Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram badly, and in the Srikakulam district partially.

All engineers, employees and O&M staff were working round the clock without availing themselves of any leaves/holidays during this period of natural calamity, he added.

APTRANSCO CMD K Vijayanand, who had rushed to Visakhapatnam to look after the restoration works, informed that 2,000 personnel consisting of engineers & workers had been deployed from APSPDCL to the cyclone-affected areas of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam, which come under the jurisdiction of the APEPDCL.

As a gesture, the Telangana government is extending a helping hand to the cyclone-affected areas of Andhra Pradesh.

Kartikeya Misra, JMD of Telangana State Transmission Corporation Limited, informed Ajay Jain that material worth Rs 13 crores had been dispatched from the Erragadda Central Stores in Hyderabad, to the Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram & Srikakulam districts for the restoration of power supply at the earliest.

The Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments have also extended full support to AP by deploying men and material for the rescue operations. (INN)