Standard of Performance

of Inter-state Transmission

Licensees, Regulation 2012

Linking of SoP Regulation with Tariff Regulation 2014

Clause 6 of appendix III of CERC Regulation 2014. “A reasonable restoration time for the element shall be considered in accordance with CERC (Standard of Performance of inter-state transmission licensee) Regulation 2012 as amend from time to time and any additional time taken by the transmission licensee for restoration of the element beyond the reasonable time shall be treated as outage time attributable to the transmission licensee ….”

Objectivity of SoP : ◦ Standards set totally different way ( to

provide efficiency, reliable, coordinated and economical system) and non-adherence of those would entitle the affected parties to compensation.

◦ SoP – monthly availability of each element at 90% and outage related to tower collapse / transformer & reactor failures not counted for the purpose of monthly availability calculation. Tariff Regulation considers the same

◦ The time frame indicated in SoP Regulation is the average time duration of similar events over few years, whereas time required for normalization depends on many factors

SoP Regulation required to considered the following◦Whether site is accessible for carrying out the work

◦Quantum of work involved ◦Site working condition◦Season in which failure taken place◦Available working hours in a day ( some states working hours restricted )

ERS restoration : outage for shifting the transmission line from ERS tower to permanent tower – treatment of outage not mentioned in SoP Regulation.

Earlier Tariff Regulation ( 2001-2014) the following mentioned.

“A reasonable restoration time for the element shall be considered by Member Secretary, RPC and any additional time taken by the transmission licensee for restoration of the element beyond the reasonable time shall be treated as outage time attributable to the transmission licensee. Member Secretary, RPC may consult the transmission licensee or any expert for estimation of reasonable restoration time ….”

Site condition may differ widely form one case to other, hence different restoration period

Earlier regulation helps in taking care of site condition as well as quantum of work involved because of site assessment whereas SoP does not take care of such issues.

Situations not taken care of in SoP Regulation◦tower foundation washed away due to

flash flood ◦people cannot approach the tower

location due to violent river◦Flooded area◦Rainy day ( climbing on tower difficult )◦Foggy day ( poor visibility )◦RoW issues ( standing crops – takes time

for crop compensation )◦Security issues ( NER, Naxalite area ) –

work carried out with local administrative protection.

No Forced majeure clauses in SoPPOWERGRID requested for inclusion the following

“Outage period under abnormal working conditions shall not be counted in availability calculation i.e. when site condition / weather condition is not conducive to carry out work (rain / fog / flood etc. ) and also there is no other force majeure condition during that period”

Restoration of line through ERSSoP Regulation 2012 : Restoration through ERS

within 12 days.ERS restoration during period 2007-08 to 2013-

14◦ No. of incidence tower collapsed - 61 cases◦ No of cases line restored through ERS – 31 cases◦ Restoration of 11 cases within 12 days, 2 cases

in 12 days, 18 cases could be restored after 12 days

◦ Actual duration of restoration is much more than the duration notified in Regulation

◦ Average value of restoration period other than two maxiumum cases comes to 12 days, which means SoP Regulation is based on average concept and 50% chances of failure.

Regulation not taken care of site condition,◦ Whether affected site is accessible to the

personnel or Not ◦ No. of towers collapsed◦ Tension towers or suspension towers◦ Location of the affected site : plain, hilly,

river◦ Volume of work involved◦ Distance of location of availability of ERS

towers◦ Majority of the cases tower collapse is due

to flash flood with cyclone flooding are or river water is high with violent flow.

◦ Water level high in the flood area.

No of towers collapsed is very high in some cases

Limited number of ERS sets in the region, diversion from other regions takes time

Regulation suggested engagement of more gangs in case of more number of tower collapse, shifting of ERS tower from one region to other region may itself take more than 12 days.

Availability of local workforce subsequent to such disasters is poor and basic amenities are also not available for restoration crews. Therefore clause on exception cases needs to be incorporated.

ConcernSituation like Hudhud, flood in

J&K, flood in Uttranchal and cloud outburst in Ladakh not taken care of in SoP Regulation. It can happen anytime anywhere.

Proposal (i) < 3 towers failure : 12 days(ii) > = 3 towers failure : 20 days(iii) Outage period for shifting from ERS

towers to permanent towers : 3 days ( additional provision )

(iv) Inclusion of forced majeure clause

“Outage period under abnormal working condition shall not be counted i.e. when site condition / weather condition is not conducive to carry out work ( rain / fog / flood etc ) and also there is no other force majeure condition during that period”

Tower after collapse : Restoration with permanent tower

Data base submitted 2007-08 to 2013-14. A number of cases actual restoration duration higher than norms specified in SoP Regulation. Hence SoP norms inadequate.

Plain terrain : 30 days ◦ Foundation of tower damaged or washed away due to flash flood

or sudden change in river course.◦ Increase in restoration period to 60 days in case tower collapse

resulted damaged of foundation in plain area, restoration of line through permanent tower after recasting of new foundation.

◦ Tower design of very old lines are supplier specific accordingly foundation design will be as per the tower, Some cases towers of old design not available. Hence there is no option other than using tower design standardized by POWERGRID and for which new foundation is to be recast.

◦ In case new foundation is to be recast then additional 30 days is required as recasting of new foundation which involves tendering, finalization of contract, excavation, casting of foundation and another 14 days ( minimum ) as curing time.

River Bed : 50 days Proposal : POWERGRID requested to modify

the entire period of completion to 8 months in case of pile foundation is to be constructed.

Data submitted indicates that restoration took longer duration that the duration notified in the regulation ( 50 days ) due to inaccessibility to the location caused by heavy flood and construction of pile foundation / diversion of the line.

Pile foundation takes about 6 months provided site condition is conducive to carry out the restoration work ( i.e. river water level is receded and the flow in the river is not violent )

Activities of pile foundationSoil investigation – 1 monthProcess of LOA through open tender,

design of pile foundation – 2 monthsCasting of foundation in river bed

taking all protection against river flowErection of new towerThen stringing in this new towers

Proposal : Increase the restoration period to 8 months with forced majeure clause.

Hilly terrain : 50 days ◦ Additional 30 days required re-casting of

foundation in case of damage of foundation due to land slide.

Recasting of new foundation as Approach to the location in the hill, shifting of material etc

extremely difficult Non-availability of motorable road to the affected location , all

the material, T&P etc needs to be carried to the location manually ( head loading ) which will take considerable time

Sometimes huge landslide takes place in number of stretches on the way to the affected location resulting road blockage and unless the road gets cleared there will be no possibility to reach to the affected location, hence longer duration for restoration of the line.

After casting of new foundation – 14 days at least as curing time.

Proposal : 80 days. With forced majeure clause.

Restoration of transformer and reactors after failure.Regulation : 120 daysRestoration period : much longer duration ( Actual)Options in case of failure of ICT or Reactor

◦ Restoration of failed ICT / Reactor with available spares can be done within 120 days. One or two spares in the region (transportation takes time)

◦ Restoration of failed ICT / reactor after repair of the failed one – 1.5 years

◦ Restoration of failed ICT / Reactor after procurement of new one in case the failed one is beyond repairable. – 1.5 years

◦ Spares are kept for the majority capacity, there is no spares available for non-standard ICTs like 400/132 kV 200 MVA, 220/132 kV 160 MVA.

Additional issuesShutdown outage for carrying out planned

maintenance activities : Treatment of same in availability calculation

Overhauling of ICTs takes long time ( data given ) Monthly availability may come down to 50%

Proposal : Maintenance outage period may be spread through out the year for the purpose of availability calculation instead of considering total maintenance outage in the particular month of maintenance.

Sl. No.

Name of the equipment

Year Outage duration permitted

( In Hrs.)

Actual outage

( in Hrs. )

Remarks

1.0 ICT –II Abdullapur

2013-14 (till date)

72

159 Major maintenance Due to high fault gases

2.0 ICT-II at Patiala 339 Major maintenance

3.0 ICT-II at Damoh

257 Major maintenance due to DGA violation

4.0 ICT – II Hissar 86 Maintenance due to Bushing problem

5.0 ICT-I Ludhiana 129 Maintenance due to oil leakage problem

6.0 ICT-II Ludhiana

98 Maintenance due to Oil leakage

Etc.

Sl. No.

Name of the equipment

Year Outage duration permitted  ( In Hrs.)

Actual outage ( in Hrs. )

Remarks

1.0 ICT –I Hisar

2012-13 72

350 Overhaling

  ICT –I Hisar 115 (continued from previous month)

Overhauling

2.0 ICT-III at Malerkotla

456 Bushing problem

Regulation : Element-wise monthly availability shall not be below 90%.

Issue : Shutdown outages for carrying out planned maintenance activities : Treatment of same in availability calculation.

10% of duration in a month is available for maintenance

Major maintenance like overhauling of CB / Transformers & Reactors – insufficient

No of cases it is beyond the allowable duration.

Inclusion of forced majeure condition in SoP Regulation Outage period under abnormal working condition

shall not be counted in availability calculation i.e. when site condition / weather condition is not conducive to carry out work ( rain / for / flood ) and also there is no other force majeure condition during that period.

Restoration period of 765 kV transmission lines and transmission lines with multi circuit towers

SoP is based on the data considered by CERC till June/July 2010. Only 2, 765 kV elements in June’10 and no 765 kV element outage.

Considering the outage duration of 400 kV system and applying for 765 kV system will be inappropriate.

Increase in the restoration period for 765 kV transmission lines and transmission lines with multi circuit towers.

765 kV tower heights are much higher and H/W fittings are also much more.

S/S of 765 kV, two breakers 6 poles ( 400 kv – 3 poles) Maintenance of multi-circuit tower slow due to

clearance problem One day extra outage period

Asset Height of towers

No. of conductors

No of insulator discs

No. of insulator strings

765 kV System

S/C 52830 mm Generally 4, some cases 6

Suspension – 40Tension - 35

Suspension – 2Tension - 4

D/C 73170 mm Generally 4, some cases 6

Suspension – 40Tension - 35

Suspension – 2Tension - 4

400 kV System

S/C 30123 mm Generally 2 Suspension – 23Tension - 23

Suspension – 1Tension - 2

D/C 49200 mm Generally 2 Suspension – 23Tension - 23

Suspension – 1Tension - 2

Treatment of outages taken for add-cap work Deemed available

Inclusion of other forced majeure clauses

Inclusion of other forced majeure clauses so that corresponding outages is not considered for performance evaluation of transmission system.

Instance of Jiribam – Loktak II : Militant shot down the conductor on a number of occasions, restoration work is to be carried out under the protection of local administration hence less available duration for maintenance.

Trips at 10 am, restoration work may not start even in 24 hours

Peer Panjal area of NR-II, Kishenpur – Wagoora line : snow fall. No access due to snow, road block, possible thru helicopter.

Name of line Date of failure

Time taken for restoration of the line in days

Remarks

Loktak – Jiribam II

08.06.03 16 days Militant shotdown the conductor

  26.08.08 6 days Conductor shotdown to ground by militant outfits

  24.03.09 7 days Conductor shotdown to ground by militant outfits

  26.06.09

29 days Conductor shotdown to ground by militant outfits

Name of line Permissible duration in SoP regulation

Date of failure

Time taken for restoration of the line in days

Remarks

Loktak – Jiribam II

2 days for plain & 3 days for hilly section for conductor failure

26.10.04 3.3 days Conductor failed between location 225-227

07.12.05 5 days Conductor failed between location 172-173

 1 day for plain & 2 days for hilly section for insulaor failure

12.04.05 5.8 days Insulator string failed at loc. 100

Restoration period for failures related to insulator, snapping of conductors / earthwire

SoP is based on the average concept

Longer line may take more time to reach

Consideration of factors◦Forced majeure conditions◦Difficult in accessibility◦Time of fault◦Security reasons◦Damage of cross arm of tension

tower

Submission of data Submitted data w.e.f Oct 2012 in the format as

submitted in respective RPC.New format introduced by CERC in Mar’14Data submitted by POWERGRID in new format for

all data w.e.f Oct’12 to Mar’14Further new format has been issued by CERC in

July’14Till Sept 2014 data has been forwarded to CERC Issues discussed in CERC w.r.t new format

◦ Unique ID of elements ( cluster of elements like line, ICT, reactor etc, region-wise any classification etc.

◦ In case of LILO of lines, how to codify so that the same can be linked with the original one.

◦ As per Regulation certified data is to be submitted within one month of completion of the period.

◦ CERC Order dated 28th Dec 2005 states the following

Quote …..In the interest of transparency, we direct that henceforth, the petitioner will furnish the details of the availability computations in advance to the Sate beneficiaries, who may submit their comments to the Member Secretary, within a period of one month after receipt of the details from the petitioner. The Member Secretary shall issue the availability certificate after taking into account the comments, if any, received from the State beneficiaries. This procedure shall uniformly apply to all regions.……Unquote Hence possibility of not getting certificate from RPC

for last two month of the block and submission gets delayed, if certified data is to be submitted.

Payment of compensation

Compensation should not be more than the reduction in charges admissible as per target availability norms

THANK YOU