Odisha to Develop Disaster Resilient Power Infra in Coastal Districts

Bhubaneswar: In another significant step towards disaster management, Odisha is on its path towards building of disaster resilient power infrastructure in costal districts.

This was discussed in a high level meeting held under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy today in Lokseba Conference hall wherein Principal Secretary and Chief Managing Director GRIDCO Saurabh Garg outlined the issues for discussion.

Considering various facets of the plan and progress made so far, Chief Secretary Tripathy directed concerned departments to expedite the implementation on emergency basis.

Further, Tripathy directed GIRDCO and OPTCL to form a ‘Think Tank’ to add expertise on technical, financial, quality monitoring, advocacy and regulative issues of the projects under the plan. The DISCOMs were advised to participate in the ‘think tank’.

Adding to Chief Secretary, Development Commissioner Suresh Chandra Mohapatra said, “Since the new resilient system will save huge loss of public property due to frequent cyclones, the work should be prioritized on mission mode”.
It was decided to take up four districts namely Kendrapara, Bhadrakh, Balasore and Jagatsinghpur in the first phase; and, five other costal districts namely Puri, Cuttack, Khordha, Ganjam and Gajpati in second phase.

The draft work plan was deliberated in the meeting. Additional Chief Secretary and Special Relief Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Jena suggested making the overhead cabling and poles resilient against the wind speed of 300 km per hour.
Jena said, the highest recorded wind speed during cyclones in South Asia region is around 315 kms per hour. It was decided that underground cabling would be done in town areas and cyclone resilient overhead cabling would be done in rural areas. The bare conductors would be converted to insulated and bunched conductors. The DP mounted substations would be converted either to compact or to retrofitting substations as per the suitability. All 220, KV 132 KV, 33 KV and 11 KV lines would be converted and made resilient. Gas Insulated ‘H’ type structures would be raised for 33 and 11 KV lines.

An estimate of around Rs.19,000 cr was prepared for both these districts. Financial Director , GRIDCO Sri Gagan Swain appraised that the incubation period for the project would be three years after necessary approval from Government of India. The resilient power system will yield a number of benefits like quick restoration of power supply after disaster. Its high resilience to wind pressure will save loss of public property caused by repeated cyclones. It also will reduce the chances of accidents, cater to demand growth and will contain the extent of T & D loss.

Development Commissioner Suresh Chandra Mohapatra, Additional Chief Secretary and SRC PK Jena, Principal Secretary Energy Sri Nikunaja Bihari Dhal, Principal Secretary Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment Saurabh Garg, Principal Secretary Finance Ashok Meena, Director Finance GRIDCO Gagan Swain, CEO Tata Power Sen Bagum along with senior officers of concerned departments participated in the deliberations.