Comments by People on Power Issues

This was a comment on my previous post on Power.

The comment is quite interesting and makes a few important points which go along with what I had posted. Therefore I decided to develop a post around it.

Good work!!!!
I would like to add some more views!!! As an Indian we are in the habit of
putting up things on someone else shoulder and just throw our own
respeonsibility. There is a mention that if the power shortfall in Northern
region is 2000 MW (peak) and 1000 MW(Offpeak) why dont we install a power plant?
At the very next stage we are cursing Government for the UMPP initiative of
putting up 4000MW plants?With a hue and cry for pollution!!!!!With an argument
for renewable energy big size plants???Really surprising, before this we have to
think over the basic root of the problem and the constraints which we have in
the Power sector. Like

01. The investment is a big problem in power sector, why?
If any business can run then why not power business? There are large number of
private players in other sectors then why not in power sector? The answer is -
there is no restricition from the government side, after Electricity Act 2003,
any one (yes any one) can put a power plant. But the biggest concern of the
business man is that whether he will be able to get sufficient returns on the
investment? Today we are facing the issue of very high level of Transmission and
Distribution losses... may be more than 35% . If we discuss the AT&C Losses
(that is T&D losses plu commercial losses) the figure may be reaching
towards 45% or more. The surprising aspect is that the T&D loss figure also
includes the lots of unmetered, free agriculture power as well as loss due to
theft. As a responsible citizen we all feel to share our own individual
responsibilities towards power sector improvements.
01. When was the last time we approached local discom to switch off the
street lights when found on during day time?
02. Do we really try to conserve power by efficient appliances/ CFLs
etc.
03. Do we pay our bills regularly and dnt;t wish the line man to distort
the meter readings?
04. It doent mean that if we have the power of money we have the right to
misuse/abuse electricity. We must not forget that whenever we are switching off
one light someone else somewhere get that light to use.

Just share our own responsibility ...and wait the results shall be
visible.

Quite right we do have a habit of putting things on other peoples shoulders. But then again it should be a balanced effort on both the sides - the government and the people. Therefore I would like to list few possible solutions in combination with those suggested in the above comment... so here we go:

- Encourage greater private sector involvement and R&D (especially in renewable sources) effort in power generaton/transmission/distribution.

- Have a local as well as global plan to tackle shortfalls (this includes both short term and long term shortfalls).

- Use energy saving devices and encourage their use by the common man.

- Concentrate on renewable sources of electricity and implement Micro-Scale Power Projects especially for urban areas.

- Work towards community-based power production/transmission/distribution. Make people responsible for the power they use.

- When was the last time we approached local discom to switch off the
street lights when found on during day time?

Lets take this further - how about also implementing computer controlled light management for public lighting.

02. Do we really try to conserve power by efficient appliances/ CFLs
etc.
> While people take the initiative and switch over to CFLs and energy efficient appliances the government should offer subsidies on such products. Something like this has been done in the latest UK budget. This would also encourage manufacturers to concentrate on energy efficiency.

03. Do we pay our bills regularly and dnt;t wish the line man to distort
the meter readings?
> This is another very important point which goes with what I said about the theft of power being done by people who have the money to pay. This is indeed our civic duty to pay for the power we have used.

04. It doent mean that if we have the power of money we have the right to
misuse/abuse electricity. We must not forget that whenever we are switching off
one light someone else somewhere get that light to use.
> This is again a valid point.


In the end, as I stated before, it is about making people responsible for the power they use!