Kudankulam is hardly the root of the problem with the acute power shortage in Tamilnadu - it is corruption and rank inefficiency of the TN government and its politicians.
I was at a gathering in Erode, where grievances were put forward. An industrialist with a sizable investment and hundreds of employees in his spinning mill made this request - "We know there is shortage of power and power plants are coming up. Can you ensure you supply us the same 8 hours of power, but do so in one stretch, so we can be productive? We have some machines that take 20 minutes to get up to speed, so we get only forty minutes per hour, if you cut off electricity every one hour. How can we pay wages for 8 hours to our workers, when only 3 hours of work get done?"
Then came some revelations - Tamilnadu has been encouraging investments in wind power for sometime, and there were many takers, who put up windmills. Their windmills supply power to the grid, and TNEB or what is called TANGEDCO is contracted to pay the suppliers. Of late, nobody has got paid, and if you are one of them, and you asked for your payment, a bribe is demanded.
So, many windmill owners have decided to switch off their windmills, since they at the very least, don't have to incur maintenance costs! So, even when there is wind, there is no production, because the government is unwilling to make payments without officials being bribed!
If you want to set up a new windmill, the going bribery rate for approval is 18 lakhs! For your own willing investment of around 1 Cr., which is beneficial to the whole nation, a bribe is being demanded! One can imagine why no new investments in wind energy are coming forth!
The Tamilnadu government recently announced some incentives for new solar power projects, with subsidies around 30%, which the providers will discount right away when you want to purchase the various components for your home or industry. None of the suppliers have got any notification, so none are able to offer the subsidy. It has been about two months, and considering this notification is only a piece of paper, one can bet some money that it can be "obtained" if a bribe is paid. But there is no guarantee these solar providers will be paid for the units they put on the grid if they choose that scheme.
Maintaining the shortage is actually beneficial to the corrupt officials and politicians, because they can collect bribes. In other words, denying a full supply of electrical power is a cash cow at various levels. First, you have to bribe to get a new industrial connection. Then you have to bribe to keep your supply coming reliably. Industries are even willing to do this! Since the government has promised uninterrupted power supply to twenty new industries that are investing in the state, one can imagine they must have paid bribes too. Even if they did, those are the shining industries with brand value so they cannot be ignored.
The loss of productivity is compounded in several ways and is impacting the nation in so many ways. Diesel is burnt by many to run their generators, and almost all of them are bigger in capacity than they need to be, simply because there would be no point in having a generator supplying less than required. So, almost all of them are burning diesel needlessly, and producing power that is not used, because the excess power doesn't go beyond the captive unit. It is simply wasted.
By forcing small and medium sized industries and institutions to invest in new technology like solar power, with or without subsidies, that money gets sucked out of their core activities, and contributes to more expensive products and services, reducing competitiveness. Those that invested in wind power are severely regretting their decisions now, because they could have used that money elsewhere. Money getting sucked out of the economy in ANY way is an illness, and the corruption and inefficiency cycle is exacerbating every single problem.
People are buying UPS systems for their homes in large numbers. UPS systems do not provide power, they merely store energy in batteries, to release later. There are latent inefficiencies in such systems, and all that is happening is an increased consumption when there is supply! A UPS system draws power even when it may not be used on those miraculous days when there is no power cut. These units are not cheap, considering how many homes are buying them. More money sucked out of the economy! But these are much smaller crimes compared to windmills that are not spinning even when there is wind.
Now the Chief Minsiter Jayalalithaa wants all the power from Kudankulam to be given to Tamilnadu. If this happens, the rest of the nation is to be denied power from KNPP not because TN is suddenly needy from its incredible economic growth, but because it doesn't have its house in order.
People who supply transformers to TANGEDCO have not been paid in several months. If they choose to start a litigation, the ruling will undoubtedly be in their favour - to be paid all dues, with interest. But since they have invested crores of rupees in their manufacturing units, they don't want to be unofficially "blacklisted" from future orders. So they will not sue.
I spoke to an (AIADMK) Ward councillor at the same gathering, and this is what he had to say, rephrased only for translation - "No matter what we do, you're going to kick us out in the next elections, so why do you want to stop us from making some money?"
- BSK.
I was at a gathering in Erode, where grievances were put forward. An industrialist with a sizable investment and hundreds of employees in his spinning mill made this request - "We know there is shortage of power and power plants are coming up. Can you ensure you supply us the same 8 hours of power, but do so in one stretch, so we can be productive? We have some machines that take 20 minutes to get up to speed, so we get only forty minutes per hour, if you cut off electricity every one hour. How can we pay wages for 8 hours to our workers, when only 3 hours of work get done?"
Then came some revelations - Tamilnadu has been encouraging investments in wind power for sometime, and there were many takers, who put up windmills. Their windmills supply power to the grid, and TNEB or what is called TANGEDCO is contracted to pay the suppliers. Of late, nobody has got paid, and if you are one of them, and you asked for your payment, a bribe is demanded.
So, many windmill owners have decided to switch off their windmills, since they at the very least, don't have to incur maintenance costs! So, even when there is wind, there is no production, because the government is unwilling to make payments without officials being bribed!
If you want to set up a new windmill, the going bribery rate for approval is 18 lakhs! For your own willing investment of around 1 Cr., which is beneficial to the whole nation, a bribe is being demanded! One can imagine why no new investments in wind energy are coming forth!
The Tamilnadu government recently announced some incentives for new solar power projects, with subsidies around 30%, which the providers will discount right away when you want to purchase the various components for your home or industry. None of the suppliers have got any notification, so none are able to offer the subsidy. It has been about two months, and considering this notification is only a piece of paper, one can bet some money that it can be "obtained" if a bribe is paid. But there is no guarantee these solar providers will be paid for the units they put on the grid if they choose that scheme.
Maintaining the shortage is actually beneficial to the corrupt officials and politicians, because they can collect bribes. In other words, denying a full supply of electrical power is a cash cow at various levels. First, you have to bribe to get a new industrial connection. Then you have to bribe to keep your supply coming reliably. Industries are even willing to do this! Since the government has promised uninterrupted power supply to twenty new industries that are investing in the state, one can imagine they must have paid bribes too. Even if they did, those are the shining industries with brand value so they cannot be ignored.
The loss of productivity is compounded in several ways and is impacting the nation in so many ways. Diesel is burnt by many to run their generators, and almost all of them are bigger in capacity than they need to be, simply because there would be no point in having a generator supplying less than required. So, almost all of them are burning diesel needlessly, and producing power that is not used, because the excess power doesn't go beyond the captive unit. It is simply wasted.
By forcing small and medium sized industries and institutions to invest in new technology like solar power, with or without subsidies, that money gets sucked out of their core activities, and contributes to more expensive products and services, reducing competitiveness. Those that invested in wind power are severely regretting their decisions now, because they could have used that money elsewhere. Money getting sucked out of the economy in ANY way is an illness, and the corruption and inefficiency cycle is exacerbating every single problem.
People are buying UPS systems for their homes in large numbers. UPS systems do not provide power, they merely store energy in batteries, to release later. There are latent inefficiencies in such systems, and all that is happening is an increased consumption when there is supply! A UPS system draws power even when it may not be used on those miraculous days when there is no power cut. These units are not cheap, considering how many homes are buying them. More money sucked out of the economy! But these are much smaller crimes compared to windmills that are not spinning even when there is wind.
Now the Chief Minsiter Jayalalithaa wants all the power from Kudankulam to be given to Tamilnadu. If this happens, the rest of the nation is to be denied power from KNPP not because TN is suddenly needy from its incredible economic growth, but because it doesn't have its house in order.
People who supply transformers to TANGEDCO have not been paid in several months. If they choose to start a litigation, the ruling will undoubtedly be in their favour - to be paid all dues, with interest. But since they have invested crores of rupees in their manufacturing units, they don't want to be unofficially "blacklisted" from future orders. So they will not sue.
I spoke to an (AIADMK) Ward councillor at the same gathering, and this is what he had to say, rephrased only for translation - "No matter what we do, you're going to kick us out in the next elections, so why do you want to stop us from making some money?"
- BSK.
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