Power Minister inaugurates 220 KV substation at Tughlakabad

NEW DELHI: Delhi Power and Urban Development Minister Satyendra Jain on Monday inaugurated 220 KV substation at Tughlakabad here. The 400/220 KV substation with 2,000 MVA capacity was commissioned after the old and polluting Badarpur Thermal Power Station (BTPS) was permanently shut on October 15, 2018.

On this occasion, Tughlakabad MLA Sahi Ram Pahalwan, Saket Assembly MLA Dinesh Mohania, South Delhi Parliamentary seat incharge Raghav Chadha and Delhi Transco Limited's CMD cum Power Secretary Madhu Vyas were present.

It is pertinent to mention that in last year, during peak summer, areas such as Okhla, Mehrauli and parts of Saket had gone dark because the BTPS-Okhla line had tripped due to overloading. It took power utilities nearly six hours to restore supply. The substation and its associated transmission network has been established with an investment of Rs 145 crore. The transmission capacity of the substation is 320 megavolt-amperes (MVA).

In Delhi, there is scarcity of land so the modern technologies such as gas insulated switchgear has been used which require almost 1/5th of the land required for conventional substations. "The substation would ease three major transmission lines that otherwise always used to get overloaded during peak demand. These lines, which are over 20 years old, include BTPS-Okhla, BTPS-Mehrauli and Bamnauli DIAL-Mehrauli," said Power minister Jain.

The substation has been linked with 400 KV ring around Delhi at its Bamnauli – Ballabhgarh section as well as with existing 220 KV substations at Badarpur, Masjid Moth, Okhla and Mehrauli to further smoothen the intrastate transmission of power. Its linking with 400 KV ring has enabled us to bring 2000 MVA power coming from outside Delhi to South and West Delhi.

With the establishment of this substation it has been possible to close down the Badarpur Thermal Power Station due to environmental reasons on the guidelines of Environment Pollution Prevention and Control Authority (EPCA) appointed by Hon'ble Supreme Court. With the starting of this substation the areas which will be benefitted most includeTugalkabad, Malviya Nagar, Okhla, Saket, Sangam Vihar, Vayusenabad, Batra Hospital and their adjoining areas.

The other functionaries present on this occasion included Madhup Vyas, secretary, power and CMD – DTL; Mukesh Prasad, director (HR), Prem Prakash, director(operations) DTL, P K Mallik, director (Finance) DTL and other senior officers of the government and the company.