India : Power outages troubling TN textile mills

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Power outages troubling TN textile mills

16
Jun '11

Tamil Nadu is the spinning capital of India and accounts for a majority of yarn production in the country. However, the textile sector is riddled with constant power outages, for as much as seven hours a day, which is disrupting production schedules.

Coimbatore, the second biggest city in Tamil Nadu and where a good number of spinning units have come up, is the worst affected. Production is down by 40 percent and many units are on the verge of closure.

The demand for power in the state is around 10,600 MW, of which the electricity companies are able to supply only 8,600 MW, a deficit of 2000 MW. Coimbatore itself faces a deficit of 600 MW.

“Today we are getting power only for 17 hours and that too, with lots of interruption, due to which we are incurring heavy losses”, says Mr J Thulasidharan, Chairman - The Southern India Mills' Association (SIMA).

He reveals, “The textile industry needs to run all the time without any breaks and even if any break needs to be taken, a relay system is followed, meaning, machines are never switched off. Out of all the industries the textile industry draws the maximum power, around 90 percent”.

He adds, “Since textile production is a continuous process it needs uninterrupted/continuous power supply. The modern textile mills use specialised control systems and control panels, so any disruption or power cut can cause huge damage to the control systems.

“Secondly, when there is a power disruption, the yarn produced is of non-standard quality and we have to segregate it. Finally, a mill needs to have machinery utilization of 97-98%. As per SITRA norms, if a mill operates below 85% or below, it will incur cash losses”, he winded up by saying.

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