Southern Power Grid connected to National Grid

In a major relief to states in the south, the southern power grid was connected to the national grid on Tuesday. The Raichur-Sholapur 765KV single circuit transmission line has been interconnected with the national grid, thereby achieving the one nation - one grid - one frequency system. It cost the Power Grid Corporation Rs.815 crore to set up the system.
With this interconnection, the Indian power system became one of the largest operating synchronous grids in the world with about 232 giga watt of installed power generation capacity. Synchronous integration of the southern grid with the rest of the national power grid will not only augment the inter-regional power transfer capacity of states in the south, but also relieve the congestion in some transmission corridors. It is likely to take a few months before power flow in this line is stabilised, the release said.
The interconnection of the line offers a major relief to Tamil Nadu from frequency problems. Currently, the state has to maintain a frequency of 52hz. If it exceeds or falls short, it is penalised. For Tamil Nadu, facing an acute power shortage, the new system would ease the frequency problem and help facilitate power purchase from other states. “The interconnection of the southern grid with the national grid will de-clog the transmission line and will enable us to transmit power easily from other states. We hope it is commissioned fully before summer so that we may not have long hours of power cuts,” said a Tangedco official, not willing to be named.
Power-starved states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka were waiting for the line to be interconnected to enable them to transmit power purchased from surplus states in the north and eastern regions. The line has been connected five months ahead of schedule by the Power Grid Corporation of India. Chief minister J Jayalalithaa had written letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blaming the Centre for the lack of facility for transmitting power from private producers in the north as well as states with excess power to the Tamil Nadu grid, which had worsened the power crisis.
The southern grid is the last among the regions to be connected to the all-India grid. The North, West, East and North-East regions had already been connected with the Central grid.
Explaining the reason for the southern grid to be taken up last, Jha said the south historically had a much better transmission system. That was why the corporation focused on other regions, he said.