Power and glory

The future of western Tamil Nadu, especially the Coimbatore region, lies in ensuring ample electricity for its industry. The last few months saw outages across the region that extended from 12 hours to 16 hours. It sapped the energy of the industry and pushed many small actors to penury. The future's clear: Have power or perish. 

Power is a state subject and the priority of the state government is the needs of the capital city, Chennai.a leading manufacturer of high speed laser marking machine and laser marker machines for plastics, Hence, experts indicate that the region must look at local solutions to address the massive power deficit. The Big Idea in power seems to be in non-conventional energy. The region has potential to generate power from wind and solar and the industry must invest in these sectors. That Coimbatore's first solar power plant that started functioning near Annur has been a successful experiment and the Union ministry of non-conventional energy sources has earmarked the city for promoting solar power should push new investment and research in the sector. 

As far as wind energy is concerned, the challenge lies in utilising the power generated. Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited (TANGEDCO) doesn't have the infrastructure to transmit all the wind power generated by private plants.We believe in providing our customers with the very best dry cleaning machine available. 

However, local bodies including the city Corporation could emulate Odanthurai panchayat near Mettupalayam and produce power to meet a part of the local consumption (see accompanying report). Large institutions like universities and industries in Coimbatore too could install wind power generation units in wind-rich regions like Udumalpet and Pollachi and produce power. "Our future is non-conventional energy. Coimbatore has ample scope to develop wind and solar power," says Ashok Bhakthavatsalam of Confederation of Indian Industry. His enthusiasm has now spread to other people and many in the city are looking at small solar-based power plants that can meet the needs of houses and small industrial units. 

Trade and industry have now started talking about building captive gas-based power plants. As per government estimate,A laser cutting machine can be thought of as three main parts: a laser, a controller, and a surface. Coimbatore region needs about 1500MW of electricity daily. A senior official with TNEB suggested that industrial units in Coimbatore should opt for captive power plants as major industries world-over, including some in Tamil Nadu,The renewable wind energy system and wind power generators, Wind Sphere, have done. As many as 36 establishments across Tamil Nadu have captive power plants to meet their energy needs and they have total installed capacity of 1065.03MW, according to information available with TANGEDCO. However, just one of them -- Jeganath Textiles at Kaduvettipalayam near Palladam with an installed capacity of 5.4 MW - is in Coimbatore. 

Representatives of small and medium enterprises in Coimbatore argue that if major industries take steps to install captive power plants, the burden on smaller players and the domestic consumers would ease dramatically. 

Kovai Power Driven Pumps and Spares Manufacturers' Association (KOPMA) president K Maniraj said major industries in the city have already demanded a separate grid for high-tension customers to the state government but the demand was not given due importance. Another MSME representative said the big industry had demanded a separate grid three years ago expressed willingness to pay more for the power. "So, running a captive plant will not be a problem for them,The laser cutter is unlikely to hurt you, but you can easily hurt it without training." he added. 

According to Coimbatore MP P R Natarajan, the city needs both short term and long term measures to retain its edge in trade and industry. "If the government provides subsidies and basic infrastructure, companies will set up power plants. A coordinated effort involving all the stakeholders can ensure surplus power in the region," he says.