Commissioning of GIS brings respite from unscheduled power cuts, say consumers
By: Aabid Hameed
Srinagar: The recently commissioned maiden Gas Insulated Substation (GIS) in Lassipora area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district has ended the power paucity in dozens of Pulwama and Shopian villages.
Locals from the area told Precious Kashmir that for the first time, they are witnessing scheduled power supply in the winter season after the GIS was commissioned.
Tanveer Ahmad, a resident of Zainapora area of Shopian said that he is around 40 years old and it is for the first in his life that he is witnessing scheduled power supply in his locality along with voltage.
He said that in winters, they were hardly getting power supply of 5 to 7 hours on daily basis; however, since GIS was started in the last month, they are getting electricity supply for 21-22 hours on daily basis.
People from other areas of Shopian district and parts of Pulwama and Kulgam also said that the electricity scenario has improved in their respective localities.
They said that they were getting a supply of 12-15 hours in summer and 5 to 7 hours in winters, but getting supply of 20-22 hours in winter is not less than a miracle for them.
Industrialists in SIDCO Lassipora have also said that they heaved a sigh of relief since the GIS was commissioned in the area and they are now able to work well, which otherwise was getting affected due to the unscheduled supply.
An official said that this GIS of Jammu and Kashmir Power Transmission Corporation Limited (JKPTCL) in the Union Territory has capacity of 160 MVA and has been constructed at the cost of around Rs 88 crore.
GIS In-charge, Gulzar Ahmad said that this is the latest generation of the grid stations and this kind of system needs less land as compared to the old type grid stations besides it is just like a plug & play and is less susceptible to faults.
He added that GIS has load of just around 70 MVA, which means more than half of its capacity remains unutilized and it has helped in decreasing power curtailment hours in most parts of Pulwama, Shopian and few parts of Kulgam district and with around 80 MVA unutilized capacity, Pulwama and Shopian are power sufficient for around two decades at least.
A Gas-Insulated Substation (GIS), which has zero maintenance for five years uses a superior dielectric gas, sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), at a moderate pressure for phase to phase and phase to ground insulation and huge stock of this gas remains available with the department, he added.
He said that the department is working to connect more and more areas on the GIS so that more people could heave a sigh of relief, adding that there might be some areas which didn’t have witnessed any major change and that is the outcome of the overloaded of receiving stations and the capacity of these receiving stations is being enhanced.
