Assam Faces Power Supply Challenges Amid Rising Demand
Power Demand Surges in Assam
(Representational image)
Guwahati, July 15: With the power demand in Assam reaching unprecedented levels, the state's transmission network is struggling to keep up, leading to reliability issues for consumers.
This season, peak power demand has soared to nearly 2800 MW. Despite sufficient electricity being available from generating stations and the Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS), outages are still being reported throughout the state.
According to official sources, the current transmission infrastructure in Assam is nearing its operational capacity due to ongoing load increases and aging systems. Key 132 kV transmission lines are becoming increasingly vulnerable to thermal overloads, voltage instability, and other constraints. The limited transformation capacity at grid substations has further diminished operational flexibility.
Several crucial 132 kV transmission lines, including Bornagar-Dhaligaon, Sonabeel-Depota, and Barpeta-Dhaligaon, have been in service for over thirty years and are now under significant operational strain.
These lines are essential for evacuating and interconnecting power to the lower Assam distribution network. Due to aging conductors and deteriorating hardware, these lines often face congestion during peak demand periods.
As the available transmission capacity falls short of meeting the rising load demand, particularly during summer evenings and agricultural peak seasons, system operators are forced to implement load management strategies, including load-shedding, to prevent thermal overloads and voltage instability. This directly affects the quality and reliability of power supplied by distribution utilities, even when generation and ISTS interfaces have adequate power.
The aging 132 kV network has led to numerous operational challenges. The existing conductors have lower ampacity compared to modern high-temperature low-sag (HTLS) conductors, causing several corridors to reach thermal limits before actual demand can be met.
Older transmission assets are also experiencing higher rates of forced outages due to issues like conductor snapping and hardware failures.
Additionally, the transformation capacity at Samaguri Grid Substation and Salakati BTPS Grid Substation is insufficient for the connected load and anticipated demand growth. This bottleneck hampers effective power evacuation to downstream substations, limiting the use of available generation and transmission resources.
The consequences include an inability to meet peak demand, poor voltage regulation in rural and semi-urban areas, and an increase in both planned and unplanned outages, leading to higher operational costs due to frequent switching and contingency management.
Unless these transmission issues are resolved through timely upgrades, reconductoring, and capacity enhancements, the reliability and quality of power supply to the distribution sector will continue to suffer.
A government official mentioned that projects worth over Rs 4,000 crore, including one funded by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), are underway to improve grid infrastructure. “These upgrades take time, but once completed, they should significantly alleviate the constraints,” he stated.