November 22, 2013

Tata Power has always been the frontrunner and a pioneer in providing reliable and uninterrupted power to the city of Mumbai. In line with this, the company announced the commissioning of additional transmission lines in Maharashtra between Kalwa and Salsette. The 220kV line will relieve critical loading of the Kalwa-Salsette lines and will enhance transmission, bringing power from outside to Mumbai city.

The unavailability of natural gas to power plants has forced Unit #6 of Tata Power’s Trombay thermal power plant to be underutilised or remain out since July 19, 2013. This acute shortage of up to 500MW capacity generation from Trombay for Mumbai city has made it necessary for power to be imported from outside the city. The transmission network, especially the 220kV Kalwa-Salsette lines, was critically loaded during most of the period due to reduction in embedded generation in Mumbai. To reduce critical loading of these lines, Tata Power had put up a proposal to Maharashtra State Load Despatch Centre and State Transmission Utility for augmenting transmission lines between Kalwa and Salsette.

As a first phase, to augment lines between Kalwa and Salsette, an additional interconnecting line has been commissioned as a short-term measure, which has also increased the load-carrying capacity and paves way for further planned augmentation.

Speaking on the expansion plans, Ashok Sethi, chief, operations, Tata Power, said, “Tata Power is committed to the availability of reliable and competitive power for all its consumers. We continue to strive to upgrade technology and invest in infrastructure across the power value chain as power is the backbone of development. Tata Power will continue to make all efforts that the Mumbai consumers are not adversely affected due to the acute shortage of natural gas to Trombay.”