South Korea to help India cut power T&D losses

South Korea, which has succeeded in reducing its power transmission and distribution losses to a meagre 4 per cent,will now lehp India do the same. South Korea showed its willingness to help India reduce its T&D losses during a Power Ministry delegation's visit to Seoul, an official said.

"The modalities of the cooperation between the two countries on the subject would be discussed at a meeting scheduled on June 18 in Seoul, where representatives of the Ministry of External Affairs would meet their counterparts," he added.

South Korea reduced its transmission and distribution (T&D) losses to just 4 per cent from a level that was as high as 40 per cent about three decades ago.The official said, "They have reduced their T&D losses by wheeling high voltage current. Now we want to do the same, but there is no testing facility in the country."At present, power is wheeled into the country at 700 KVA. Though the voltage needs to be scaled up to 1,200 KVA for reducing T&D losses, the country lacks testing facilities for such high-voltage transmission equipment."As it would be unviable to get the high voltage transmission equipment tested abroad, we want to set up this facility here in India for which we would need South Korea's help," the official said.

At present, the country faces 30 per cent T&D losses, and the government is making every effort to reduce it to 15 per cent.As per government estimates, T&D losses in the power sector amounted to Rs 45,000 crore for the fiscal ended March 31, 2010, and were likely to touch Rs 68,000 crore by the end of the current fiscal (2010-11).The Planning Commission would set up an expert group to identify the causes for the T&D losses. A former Comptroller and Accountant General (CAG) would head the group, which would also have representatives from the power sector.