With every possibility of severe cyclones hitting the coastal Odisha very frequently in future, the State Government has requested the Union Government for replacement of aerial bundled cables (ABC) with underground cables (UGC).
The ABCs are overhead power lines using several insulated phase conductors bundled tightly together, usually with a bare neutral conductor and gets damaged with cyclones having 200 km wind power.
Super storm Fani on May 3 with a wind speed of 200 km damaged the entire power infrastructure of
several coastal districts, including Puri. And, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreeing for cyclone resilient power distribution network during his visit on May 6 to Odisha and Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha asking Union Secretary Power
Ajay K Bhalla to visit Fani devastated Odisha, officials are positive about it.
The Fani damage has affected 46.27 lakh consumers and the scale of damage was far too expensive, which has left the distribution companies (Discoms) in dire straits. Against this backdrop, the Department of Energy (DoE) has presented a proposal to the Ministry of Power (MoP) asking for Rs 10,000 crore aid in the first phase.
State Energy Secretary Hemant Sharma is in touch with the senior officials of the Ministry of Power (MoP). Power Minister RK Singh is favourably disposed towards Odisha as the State implemented the flagship Saubhagya scheme with all sincerity and in a time-bound manner. Sharma is in talks with senior officials of the MoP and trying hard for the ambitious project.
For the cyclone resilient power distribution network in capital city of Bhubaneswar and districts of Puri, Cuttack, Ganjam, Kendrapada, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur and Baleswar, over Rs 28,000 crore is needed as per independent power experts’ assessment.
However, in the first phase, there is a requirement of Rs 10,000 crore and this will help in withstanding severe cyclones in future.
Secondly, it will also help in reducing aggregate transmission and commercial (ATC) loss and add beautification of the towns and areas.
As the State is facing repeated cyclones almost every year due to global warming, hence such an one-time investment in cyclone resilient system is justified, said an expert of World Bank, who extensively visited the Fani affected areas to have an on-the-spot assessment of losses.