Need to step up power infrastructure investment: NTPC

MUMBAI: India needs to step up investment on power transmission infrastructure to match the growing power generation capacity , said Arup Roy Choudhury , chairman of NTPC. “The transmission system has to add capacity to avoid overloading of existing capacity ,” Roy Choudhury told ET. The transmission system is under scrutiny after large parts of the country blacked out for hours twice in 36 hours, raising concerns about the messy state of India’s power sector. Roy Choudhury said that the government investigation to the reasons behind the unprecedented power failure in India’s north, east and northeastern grids that tripped one after another on Tuesday forcing half of the country into a blackout, holds the key to corrective measures in the sector.

“We are concerned. We are waiting for the report to find out what is the reason. But because it (power failure) recurred in the span of two days it has exposed the vulnerability of our transmission system ,” he said. The beleaguered power sector , which is struggling with multiple problems, hit a trough when the entire north power transmission grid collapsed on Monday at 2:35 am affecting eight states and one Union territory . Even as the system was recovering, a second system collapse on Tuesday afternoon left 20 states powerless. “We brought back all our stations into operation within a few hours. We have satisfied ourselves that our checks and balances are in place and in case of emergency, we can execute a fast recovery,” said Roy Choudhury.