LIGHTS OFF: Productivity of manufacturing units suffer due to frequent power cuts (CP Shanmugham)

It is true that power crises are common in most Indian states but TN’s legendary power-surplus status was the reason why high profile companies such as Nokia, Dell and Samsung invested here. In fact, as massive investments poured into this resurgent state, demand for power surged. TN attracted $2.72 billion (Rs 10,880 crore) in FDI (foreign direct investment) between January 2000 and June 2007, the third largest for a region in the country. In the past 12 months alone, the state’s industries department signed MoUs for projects totalling Rs 6,985 crore, and most of that with large industrial houses and MNCs.

Indeed, the recent outages are viewed with more than a little perplexity, and even disbelief. Sources this reporter spoke to do not remember when the last power crisis occured. “We never had tripping in the 110 KV line. Now, it has become quite common,” rues an industry official from the Coimbature district.

Now, “We are not able to plan production properly. For every power cut, we spend close to two hours restarting the machines,” says S. Aravind, who runs a plastic unit in Madurai. A 30-min cut leads to a hour and a half long ‘stop-start’ process. Many units have taken to working on Sundays and all through the night.

Among the southern states, TN recorded the highest growth in power consumption in the last seven years. The state’s annual power requirement is now about 8,800 MW. The demand for electricity, which was growing at 400 MW, rose by 600-700 MW in the past two years. Parallely, the state’s power generation record in recent times has been less than admirable (see table ‘Power Supply Position’).

The North Chennai thermal power station, the last major public sector power project by the TN government, was commissioned in 1994. Conceived in the 1980s, it is being overhauled and expanded only now. “The demand for power has grown at 12 to 15 per cent. But there has been no matching capacity addition,” admits a senior Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) official.