ELECTRICITY DEPARTMENT

A&N ADMINISTRATION

PORT BLAIR

Catering to the Power Needs

            The geographical and topographical peculiarities of these islands, including separation by sea over great distances, there is no single power grid for all the electrified islands and instead a power house caters independently to the power requirements of an area/islands.

Present Power Supply Position

At present, there are 35 (inclusive of IPP) Diesel Power Houses at different locations in these islands having diesel generating sets of capacity ranging from 6 KW to 5000 KW & One Hydro Power Station having capacity of 5.25MW on Kalpong River at North Andaman, with total aggregate installed capacity of 64.05MW.

The existing distribution network has 278 Kms. of 33 KV lines, 696 Kms. 11 KV lines and 2196 Kms. of LT lines, 27 Nos. (44.77 MVA) Power Transformer & 436 Nos. (50.609 MVA) Distribution Transformers, for providing power to around 70030 consumers in various categories & 11000 Street Light points. The present per capita consumption is around 250 KWh as against the national average of around 350 KWh. The present position of power supply is as below:

PERFORMANCE DURING 2002-2003

Demand of Power

            As per the 16^th Electric Power Survey of India conducted by CEA, New Delhi and published during September 2000 the projected power requirements for A & N Islands is detailed below:

Note: * The actual generation during 2001-02 & 2002-03 had reached 131.92 MU & 135.86MU respectively over & above the estimated figure of 16^th EPS.

The list of prevailing tariff in A & N Islands is as under:

Village Electrification

There are 547 census villages in A & N Islands, out of which 68 villages are presently either un-inhabited or encroached Forest areas, which are not to be electrified as per present policy. As per the revised definition of village electrification, the number of electrified villages is 479, which are electrified through conventional electric supply, solar power plants and solar photovoltaic domestic/street lights and cover a population of around 97.5%.

311 Villages covering 92.4% of population are having 24 Hrs. power supply through conventional source of energy/DG Sets.

39 Villages covering 2% of population are having 5-16 Hrs. power supply through conventional source of energy/DG Sets.

18 Villages covering 0.8% of population are having 5-12 Hrs. power supply through solar power plants.

111 Villages covering 2.3% of population were electrified by SPV domestic/street lights, more than a decade back, which are required to be electrified through conventional sources of energy or by establishing small community power houses.

Major Proposals during 10^th Plan

The planning Commission in the approach paper for 10^th Plan emphasised the need to maximise the utilisation of Non-Conventional Energy Sources, specially in remote and inaccessible areas, for meeting the basic energy requirement of lighting, cooking & heating etc. in a decentralized mode. For this purpose a detailed Survey of these Islands, by associating officials from CEA & MNES will be undertaken to arrive at suitable ways of meeting the energy requirements through optimal use of NCES. Suitable remote Villages/ Localities will be identified and community systems will be established.

The Schemes in the 10^th Plan have been formulated on the basis of past experience on various NRSE systems & devices & the expected generation capacity addition during 10^th Plan is at Exhibit-1. The brief on the above schemes is given below:

Directions & Administration and New Technologies

It is proposed to establish Energy Parks at different educational institutions for creating awareness of NRSE devices. It is also proposed to carry out detailed survey, investigation and identification of suitable locations for establishment of Ocean Energy system-viz. OTEC, Wave and Tidal stations, to reduce the dependency on HSD Oil presently used for power generation. It is also proposed to establish few pilot projects on New Technologies viz. Hydrogen Energy, Fuel Cells etc. It is also proposed to provide few Battery Operated Vehicle to different entrepreneurs and organizations on approved subsidy pattern.

Wind Energy Systems

            It is proposed to establish 30-Mtrs. high Wind tv1onitoring Masts at 5 different locations in addition to 10 locations already studied at Exhibit-2. 2x50 KW Wind Electric Generators are proposed to be established as pilot projects at Car Nicobar so as to establish similar systems at other suitable locations. Wind Battery Chargers and Wind Pumps are also proposed to be established at suitable locations. It is also proposed to establish grid connected Wind electric generators of around 500 KW capacity at few locations in consultation with MNES, for diesel saving, availing MNES subsidy.

SPV Power Plants

          35 Existing SPV Power Plants will be maintained. Based on the satisfactory performance of these Plants, it is proposed to establish small stand alone SPV Power Plants totaling to 25 KWp at different locations. It is also proposed to establish grid connected SPV Power Plants at different locations and on roof tops of suitable buildings in these Islands aggregating to around 1500 KWp capacity for diesel savings, availing MNES subsidy.

Mini/ Micro Hydro

          5.25 MW KHEP at North Andaman has been commissioned. It is proposed to establish Mini/Micro Hydro Electric systems at Rangat, Panchavati & Korang Rivers already studied by University of Roorkee and at the tail race of Kalpong Hydro Electric Station, totaling to around 900 KW, availing MNES subsidy.

Biomass Based Systems

          It is proposed to establish Biomass based Power Generation system at Little Andaman, Car Nicobar, Katchal, Campbell Bay, Middle Andaman etc. totaling to around 500 KW capacity by utilising the Biomass waste from Palm Oil and Coconut plantations, Saw dust and lops & tops from forest extraction coups etc., by availing MNES subsidy.

Source: Electricity Department.