GEB keen on tapping captive power plants

While the Board8217;s Ranavav sub-station near Porbandar became operational on Wednesday, the ones at Bhuj and Porbandar were expected to become functional by Thursday, Nanda said, adding that the GEB had estimated the damages to transmission towers and lines to be worth more than Rs 200 crore.

In Vadodara, the Board restored power supply to the french wells at Raika and Dodka on the Mahisagar, along with 1,000 more localities of Bharuch, Surat and Navsari on Wednesday. Power returned to more than 3,000 of the 8,253 affected villages on Tuesday itself, Nanda said.

All these areas had to go without power on Tuesday, along with a majority of the coastal Saurashtra region, after the cyclone badly damaged transmission towers, transmission lines, conductors and other equipment. The actual damage is likely to be assessed in a day or two.

Badly affected transmission lines between Wanakbori and Jamnagar are expected to be repaired in a couple of days, Nanda said, adding that 20 teams were monitoring the situation in coastal Saurashtra.

The roof of the Sikka thermal power station had been blown off by the cyclone, he added.

Nearly 200 to 250 transmission towers had been badly damaged, he said.