WCA January 2014

India Insight

Plant improvements A new coke oven battery has begun trials at the Sail Authority of India’s Burnpur IISCO steel plant, as part of a plan to increase capacity from 0.4 to 2.9 million tonnes of hot metal. The new facilities will include a universal section mill, and a wire rod and bar mill. The wire rod mill has also commenced trial production. Having an annual production capacity of 0.5 tonnes, the mill will produce cold-headed steel for fasteners, critical wire rope applications and special quality electrodes. The product portfolio will offer sizes from 5.5mm to 22mm diameter in low, medium and high carbon steel. Steel Authority of India Ltd – India Website : www.sail.co.in Power to Manipur The supply of power in Manipur may shortly be improved, officials of the state electricity department have announced, following the news that work on a 400kV transmission line from Assam is making good progress. To expedite the ongoing work on the power transmission line from Silchar to Imphal via Jiribam, the Manipur government has formed a dedicated committee to monitor the project. The 400kV transmission line is thought to be Manipur’s only hope of improving the power situation in the state, where inhabitants have access to electricity for barely five hours a day. Existing transmission lines in Manipur are incapable of drawing the full volume of power allocated to the state from central sponsored and joint venture power plants. Once completed, Manipur is hoping that the 400kV power line will carry supply from power plants in Tripura. Manipur Government – India Website : www.manipur.gov.in India’s first ultra mega transmission project Sterlite Grid has commissioned a 231km, 400kV double-circuit quad transmission line to connect Purnia and Bihar Sharif substations in the state of Bihar, India. The move marks the completion of India’s first ultra mega transmission project (UMTP). Capable of offering critical connectivity for power transmission from the hydro power plants in the north eastern region, the new line will power over a million homes in north east Bihar and northern India. Sterlite Technologies director Pravin Agarwal said: “We are building several critical lines which are crucial for evacuation

of power, and are hopeful that with continued support from the state and central government, we will be able to deliver these as per our commitments.” As part of the Purnia–Bihar Sharif transmission line, the company has installed a transmission line in the East North Interconnection (ENICL) transmission project, linking Assam with West Bengal and Bihar. In 2010, Sterlite was awarded a contract worth $158.2m to build transmission lines to transport 1,000MW of power from hydropower projects, in the northeast, to over one million homes in northern and eastern India. The project was awarded on a BOOM basis (build, own, operate and maintain) which would offer annuity revenues for Sterlite Grid for about 25 years. Sterlite Technologies – India Website : www.sterlitetechnologies.com KEC’s 400kV contracts consisting of the supply and erection of 400kV transmission lines between the proposed Anikadavu-Thappagundu and the Anikadavu-Rasipalayam 400kV substations on a turnkey basis. The orders were placed by the Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation Ltd. In Andhra Pradesh, KEC will undertake the supply and erection of the 400kV transmission line between Kamavara- pukota-Chinnakorukondi substations, again on a turnkey basis. The order was secured from the Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Ltd (APTransco). KEC International Ltd – India Website : www.kecrpg.com Going underground? Cyclone Phailin, which battered the Odisha coast, has left the power distribution infrastructure in a shambles, said National Disaster Management Authority vice-chairman Marri Sasidhar Reddy, anticipating that it would be 15 days before normal service could be resumed in the area. He is urging governments to install underground power cables in coastal areas to minimise the damage. Such projects can be taken up under the World Bank-funded National Cyclone Risk Mitigation project. National Disaster Management Authority – India Website : www.ndma.gov.in ❍ New large orders for KEC KEC International Ltd (KEC) has recently secured large new orders in India and the Americas for its transmission cables, telecom and power systems businesses. Projects include two orders for Tamil Nadu,

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Wire & Cable ASIA – January/February 2014