‘We are going for Gas Insulated Substations (GIS) because they would require less land’

–        Rakesh Mehta, CMD of Delhi Transco

National capital’s distribution company remains a technology-driven firm

Is it true that in future Delhi Transco will only be a routing agency, and it will also be more technology-oriented?
Well, currently Transco is purchasing a lot of power. Routing would be our sole responsibility from March next year. The purchasing of power will be done by the distribution companies. Transco will become a purely wires company. We will not be doing many of the things  we are doing now. That is, the bulk of our work, which is under Rs 5000 crore, will not be our responsibility. We’ll merely be the routing agency. So, in terms of financial input, our business will be reduced substantially. We will become an essentially technology-oriented company than a business-oriented one. So, that will be a complete change in the way we function, and this is all envisaged in the Indian Electricity Act 2003.

What is Delhi Transco doing to improve its capacity to meet rising demand?
Delhi Transco is trying to improve its 220 KV and 400 KV substations. The 220 KV substations are being built at locations like Mahrani Bagh, Masjid Moth and Brijwali. Even in the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) area we’ll be building these substations. Our focus is entirely on improving the infrastructure because wherever the load growth increases there we have to add more 220 KV substations for better dispersal of electricity. We have also brought down our transmission losses, from 2.35 per cent to 0.69 per cent, as well as the technical losses at the 220 KV substations.

This summer, large parts of the capital experienced long and unscheduled power cuts. Are we going to face power outages in the future as well?
It all depends on the demand-supply gap. With a six per cent  increase in demand per annum, there is a supply shortfall. We generate only 1,300 MW, the demand is 4,112 MW. We don’t have enough generation capacity to meet this gap, which is at its peak during summers. There will be a shortage of almost 1000-1500 MW for the next three years. There will be surplus power by 2010. So, for these three years we have to buy power from other power-surplus states like West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. So we are tying up with them for purchases of 1,000-1,500 MW for the next three years. So, the problem of power cuts in the coming summers will prevail, but if we don’t have transmission constraints, we won’t face power shortages. We’ll have to face shortages for