North India that is amongst the largest consumers of electricity in India is suffering from very poor pace of capacitor installation. This has affected efficient transfer of power from the northern grid, impinging on the region's ability to meet peak power demand.
According to official statistics released by Central Electricity Authority, the northern region was able to install only 158 MVAr of shunt capacitors during the first half (April to September) of 2009-10. This makes pale comparison with the target of adding 4,940 MVAr in the entire year. The northern region includes Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Chandigarh.
This is not the only period of poor performance; it has been a consistent phenomenon, at least over the past few years. In 2008-09, the target for new capacitor installations in the northern region stood at 6,714 MVAr as against which the actual achievement was a paltry 947 MVAr. During 2007-08, additions stood at just 800 MVAr, nowhere the targeted 4,222 MVAr.
The entire northern region has been drawing reactive power, in varying degrees. However, not all states have been able to install sufficient capacitors to compensate their reactive power demand. While Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand are relatively better off, states like Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh have been suffering from low compensation. In fact, reactive power compensation in J&K is almost nil. With the result, these states have been drawing reactive power under low voltage conditions, vitiating the voltage profile of these states and also grid stability. J&K, Haryana and Punjab have been drawing low voltage power from the grid almost round the year. Shunt capacitors are placed across an electric power line to provide voltage increase or to improve the power factor of the circuit.
Only Delhi appears to be comfortably placed with respect to capacitor installation. As of September 30, 2009, the capital city had 3,476 MVAr of capacity with no additions envisaged in 2009-10. Punjab saw 150.73 MVAr of new capacitor installations in the first half of 2009-10, only a small achievement considering the state's total target of 767 MVAr for the current year. In fact, apart from Punjab, the only other state to have witnessed any new capacitor installation in the first half of 2009-10 was Rajasthan, albeit with a nominal 7.6 MVAr. Uttar Pradesh had 5812 MVAr of capacitor installations as of September 2009, the highest in the northern region. However, this populous state is estimated to need another 1449 MVAr in 2009-10; the achievement in the first half was nil. Jammu & Kashmir, as discussed earlier, is the worst in terms of capacitor installations. With only 147 MVAr as of September 2009, no additions took place in 2009-10 even with the target standing a huge 1,124 MVAr.
The overall scenario for 2009-10 is bleak. With a target of adding 4,940 MVAr in the year, a measly 158 MVAr fructified in the first half, leaving a huge 4,782 MVAr to be achieved in the remaining six months. Clearly, capacitor installation in the northern region would be no better than what the recent years have seen.
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