Srinagar: Pulwama has become the first district in Kashmir that can supply power at transmission level almost 40 percent more than the existing capacity. This means that if there are any power cuts in the area, the constraints are at the distribution level, not the transmission level.
Power supply in Kashmir is received first by the transmission lines, administered by a separate department, from a power creation source, and then later fed to the distribution lines, administered by another department. Power reaches households through the distribution lines. Until now, the distribution wings had always blamed the lack of transmission capacity as the main reason for unscheduled power cuts.
What the situation of power cuts in the district will now be remains to be seen.
Hashmet Qazi, the head of the transmission wing of the Power Development Department who played a key role in Pulwama district having surplus capacity at the transmission level, told Kashmir Reader that about 255 MVAs is now the total transmission strength of the district. The new project has added 160 MVA to the existing 95 MVA, making the total 255 MVA.
Pulwama district, which has a population of about six lakh, is spread over 1100 sq km and has peak demand of power at about 150 MVA. The lowest demand remains around 70 MVA, as per latest figures. Now the distribution can supply up to 255 MVAs, a major development in the power sector in Kashmir Valley.
The project has also become the first Gas Insulated System to be installed by the power department itself. Earlier, it was done by Starlite, a private company, which had first installed the GIS project in Jammu and Kashmir. This also means a shift in technology from the Air Insulated System.
In GIS, land required for the installation of the system is almost four times lesser. It also takes less time for installation, and rarely develops short circuits, another reason for power cuts, as against the existing AIS.
“It is a milestone,” said Qazi. “I believe it will ease the lives of people to a considerable extent.”
As per the current arrangements, the Pulwama district has mostly un-metered areas, where 2-hour power cuts take place after every six hours. During the night, the power usually remains uncut. It remains to be seen what change in the power schedule the new transmission capacity will have. Qazi said that not only Pulwama, but Srinagar areas will also benefit from it because of the cascading effect of the project.

Junaid Nabi Bazaz