Latest news with #BengaluruOverhead
Time of India
20-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Bhatti in B'luru to study urban power solutions
Hyderabad: To improve the power infrastructure, especially the underground cabling system in Hyderabad, as well as system reliability, safety, and aesthetics, Telangana deputy CM Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka visited Bengaluru on Tuesday to study the power sector. The state govt is planning to use some modern technologies and projects, such as urban grid modernisation programmes, in Future City. Bhatti interacted with Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) managing director Pankaj Pandey, who is also MD of Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited. Officials gave a presentation on Bengaluru Overhead (OH) to Underground (UG) Power Conversion Project, which has emerged as one of India's most comprehensive urban power infrastructure transformations. The project in Bengaluru was launched in 2018-19 and has already converted over 7,400 km of 11kV OH lines and thousands of km of low-tension lines into UG or aerial bunched (AB) cables. A key innovation has been the laying of optical fiber cable ducts along UG cable routes to enable future telecom leasing as a revenue stream. Vikramarka enquired about the financial structuring of the project, which includes loans from Asian Development Bank (ADB), Rural Electrification Corporation, and other public sector banks. The reduction in technical losses and electrical accidents, which BESCOM confirmed fell by up to 2% since UG implementation, was also discussed. Bhatti also sought to know the readiness of OFC infrastructure for commercial use, to which BESCOM responded that while ducts are in place, last-mile coordination with telecom operators and BBMP is going on. Later in the day, the Deputy CM visited a pilot site in Malleshwaram (15th Cross) where an Underground Distribution network, including an underground Transformer (DTR) system, has been implemented. The site showcased how DTRs can be housed in fully buried chambers with accessible maintenance panels at street level, freeing up urban space and improving safety.
The Hindu
20-05-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
TG team led by Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka studies UG cabling project in Bengaluru
HYDERABAD A team of energy department authorities led by Deputy Chief Minister M. Bhatti Vikramarka, who holds the portfolios of Energy and Finance, visited Bengaluru on Tuesday to study the underground cabling taken up by the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Ltd (Bescom) as the Telangana government too is planning to go for UG cabling in Hyderabad beginning with some key areas. Chairman and Managing Director of the TG-Transco D. Krishna Bhaskar, CMD of Telangana Southern Discom Md. Musharraf Faruqui and a few senior engineers of the two power utilities were part of the team led by Mr. Vikramarka. They were taken around the UG cabling works by MD of Karnataka Transco and Bescom Pankaj Pandey. According to the Deputy Chief Minister, the visit was undertaken as part of the State government's plans to modernise the urban infrastructure and improve power supply systems' reliability, safety and aesthetics in rapidly growing metropolitan areas (Hyderabad). The visit commenced with a high-level review meeting hosted by the Bescom officials. Through a power point presentation, Mr. Pandey explained to the visiting team on the Bengaluru Overhead (OH) to Underground (UG) Power Conversion Project, which he claimed had emerged as one of the country's most comprehensive urban power infrastructure transformations. He stated that the project launched in 2018–19 had already converted over 7,400 km of 11 kV OH lines and thousands of km of low-tension lines into UG or aerial bunched (AB) cables. Innovation in UG cabling A key innovation of the project was laying of the Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) ducts along the UG cable routes to enable future telecom leasing as a revenue stream. The Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana enquired about the design and implementation challenges. The Bescom officials explained to Mr. Vikramarka and his team that the financial structuring of the project and it includes loans from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) and other public sector banks and that technical losses and electrical accidents had come down by 2% since the UG implementation. On the readiness of OFC infrastructure for commercial use, the Bescom officials stated that while ducts were in place, the last-mile coordination with telecom operators and BBMP was in progress and that the role of Ring Main Units (RMUs) had ensured system reliability and had reduced downtime during faults. Mr. Vikramarka appreciated the scale and execution discipline of the project and hoped that the study would benefit the urban grid modernisation to be taken up in Telangana, particularly in Future City. Later, the team visited a pilot site in Malleshwaram (15th Cross) where an Underground Distribution network, including an underground Distribution Transformer (DTR) system, was being implemented. The site showcased how DTRs could be housed in fully buried chambers with accessible maintenance panels at the street level, freeing up urban space and improving safety, according to the officials accompanying the Deputy CM.
