RAKESH MEHTA, Principal Secretary (Power) and CMD, Delhi Transco Ltd., gives credit for the encouraging scenario to the government’s public-private partnership policy.
According to him, Delhi’s power sector is a success story of PPP. Transmission and generation are being managed by the government while the majority stake in distribution has been handed over to private companies.
RESOURCE DIGEST spoke to him on the power situation in the National Capital

What is Delhi Transco doing to improve its capacity to meet the rising demand of power in the capital?
The demand of power in is increasing at the rate of around 10% per annum. All the power companies have their definite role to play in their respective field of generation, transmission or distribution and all are making their best efforts to excel and ensure smooth delivery of power to the end users.
The role of Delhi Transco is limited up to transmission of power within the National Capital. As is depend upon the generation utilities in other states therefore supplying uninterrupted power to the citizens is really a very big challenge. is part of the Northern Grid and it cannot remain isolated in case of any disturbance in any of the constituent state.
Transco has tried its level best to upgrade the transmission system to make it invulnerable from the grid disturbances. As far as the transmission capacity of Delhi Transco is concerned, it is sufficient enough to fulfill the needs of the city. It consists of four sub-station of 400 KV and 26 sub-stations of 220 KV level which are interlinked and are connected with the Northern Grid. In addition to this, we also have a 400 KV ring around having a capacity to carry more than 4,000 MW load.
In September 2010, we have added two 220 KV and one 400 KV sub-stations in our network. Around 6 more sub-stations of 220 KV and one sub-station of 400 KV are under construction. The total transformation capacity is more than 7500 MVA.
has witnessed rising peak demand of energy over recent years on one hand, and the stagnant power supply of its own power plants on the other. What are the milestones covered till now in resolving the demand-supply mismatch and making a ‘power surplus state’?
In the last few years, the scenario has completely changed. has sufficient power and has met a maximum ever demand of 4,720 MW in the month of July 2010 and around 450 MW was surplus on that particular time. The situation in is entirely different from other states. The difference in the maximum and minimum of demand in a day is more than 20%. At one point of day we have surplus power and at the other point we struggle to arrange for fulfilling the requirement. The discoms purchase power at a very high rate but ensure that there is not a single power cut due to scarcity of power.
Owing to the geographical conditions and lack of natural resources, faces constraints in establishing new power stations and has to depend upon other states and Central Power Utilities to meet the demand. But in the recent years, the government has made a significant achievement in generation also.
A 1,500 MW Super Thermal Power Station has been established at Bawana and land has been acquired to establish a 750 MW power station at Bamnauli. Apart from this, is also a stakeholder in 1,500 MW Power Station at Jhajjar and will get 750 MW out of it. Both Bawana and Jhajjar Power Stations will be generating to their full capacity in the next few months.
has also started getting power from the newly established units of NTPC plant at Dadri. It has been the endeavour of the government and generating companies to generate as much as possible power within the national capital region to fulfill the demand of the fast growing metropolis.
Besides government, the private distribution companies are also striving to establish their own generation units. NDPL has succeed in it and has established a 108 MW power plant at Rithala which has started generation. In the recently held XIXth Commonwealth Games 2010, power has been one of the few things which got every ones acclaim.
How significant is the Public Private Partnership (PPP) in the power sector?
In ’s scenario, it has been very successful. has been one of the pioneer States to implement the power sector reforms. model has been very successful and has been appreciated at various forums and platforms. In the year 2002 when erstwhile Delhi Vidyut Board was unbundled, the Delhi Government decided to retain generation and transmission with it and hand over the distribution of power to the private companies.
The majority stake of 51% in each of the three distribution companies was given to private players. Two companies, BRPL and BYPL, are managed by Reliance owned BSES and one company NDPL is owned by Tata Power. Delhi Government has 49% stake in all the three companies. During the initial five years, Delhi Transco arranged power in bulk for these companies but from April 2007 onward they are making their own arrangements. The power cuts have reduced and in many areas it is the thing of past. Sometimes power cuts are due to grid disturbance and sometimes due to local faults. The services delivery system has improved very much resulting in consumer satisfaction. Though there are certain areas which need improvement but in totality the condition is excellent. Our aim is to make inverter free.
How are the issues of T&D (transmission and distribution) losses are being taken care of and what are the steps adopted in this direction to curb these losses?
Transmission losses of Delhi Transco are one of the lowest in the country and are around 1%. Every effort is being made to improve the efficiency. Old transformers have been replaced with new one and the state of the art technology is being used to minimize the losses.
Delhi Transco has earned a net profit of Rs. 77.28 crore after tax and has paid a dividend of Rs. 10.9 crore for the year 2009-10. To ensure efficiency in the transmission, we are establishing sub-stations using Gas Insulated Switch Gears. In distribution sector also, there has been significant improvement. The AT&C losses which were around 57% in 2002 have come down to around 22%. The aim is to bring it down below 15%. Distribution companies have also improved their system very much. The theft has been curtailed. Government also provided them adequate security to check theft.
Can you throw some light on the Green Initiatives (non conventional power generation) taken by Delhi Transco?
To establish a non conventional power generating stations, huge amount of land is required. is densely populated and there is hardly any space to install windmills or solar panels at larger scale. Hydro-Power can also not be generated here. The solar panels can be installed here on roof tops and walls so that the individual users can get them installed and use the solar energy operated gadgets. In July 2006, we established Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Management Centre.
The main purpose of this centre was to promote conservation of energy and promotion of the use of solar energy. Many schemes have been initiated to promote the objectives. Government has made it compulsory to use solar water heaters for certain institutions, industries and other consumers.
Subsidy is also given for installation of water heater to the domestic consumers. Code has also been implemented to promote the energy conservation and maximize the use of sunlight. Distribution companies have also launched a scheme to buy power generated through solar panels by the consumers. Delhi Transco has some space available at its Mundka 400 KV sub station, options will be explored to generate solar energy there.