Restoration of Transmission Lines

Transmission lines are the arteries of the Electricity Grid and these are most prone to damage because of earthquake, cyclone, terrorist attack, flood, etc. The subsequent points should be considered for handling disasters:

1 Disaster Management Groups should be constituted at SEB level.

2 Intimation regarding movement of personnel to disaster site should suffice and no sanction / approval from their standing hierarchy should be required.

3 In each utility, looking after O&M of transmission lines, section-wise responsibility should be clearly defined and they should have contingency plan for various emergencies. The procedure of restoration guidelines under various conditions should be laid down and all the documents should be made available to all the Disaster Management Committee/Task Force members.

4 The substation and other control centres should have details of the key front line personnel/task force members who are identified for handling the restoration process in the event of disaster so which deployment of these personnel to the affected areas could be made without any delay.

5 Availability of all the resources meant for tackling the disaster/restoration process should be listed and the same should be available to the concerned members.

6 Every "Key Front Line Personnel Team" should be provided along with mobile satellite telephone for ensuring instantaneous response/mobilization to the front on the occurrence of a disaster.

7 For the restoration of transmission lines, Emergency Restoration System (ERS) should be given and made use of. The ERS, communication and other equipment should be managed properly so in which it could be used without any delay.

• Spare towers and conductors should be available along with the agency having the responsibility of O&M of transmission line.

• Strategic locations should be decided for spares on centralized/ regional/zone wise.

• In case of advance warning, the restoration team should reach the convenient place nearest to the expected affected area in sequence to reach the spot at the earliest. The team would assess the extent of damage and inform the higher coordinating authorities.

• Alternate feed point should be recognized for traction, defence locations and other significant areas.