New & Renewable
Energy Secretary G B
Pradhan recently
inaugurated TRAFOSEM
2011 in the capital.
Organized by Indian
Transformer Manufacturers’
Association (ITMA) the
conference provided a
platform to the industry
experts to discuss on
"Current and Futuristic
prospects of transformer
technology on global
horizon and challenges for
Indian power sector".
Speaking at the occasion,
the Secretary stated that the
power sector has set foot on
unprecedented growth
path. The sector is taking
quantum jump from the
level we are used to. Similar
growth is happening in the
transmission sector and the
transformer industry will
be at the forefront in this.
Further, there are high
capacities planned in
renewable energy sector as
well where the transformer
industry has a very
important role to play,
he said.
Pointing out the
challenges in the sector, the
Secretary mentioned that
raw material availability is
one of the foremost
challenges and a lot of
discussions have happened
on these. Indigenous facility
for CRGO steel is the best
solution for this problem. He
stated that copper is also a
matter of concern in
distribution and lower
grade transformers.
According to the
Secretary, another challenge
that the industry faces is the
use of non-starred
transformers by distribution
companies. Commenting on
the issues, he stated that
even though the CEA has
mandated labeled and star
rated transformers for
distribution utilities, many
utilities are still not
complying with this. He also
expressed concern at the
high rate of failure of
transformers. He said
that this is one of
the impediments in the
growth path of the power
sector of the country and
highlighted the need of
quality transformers.
During the conference,
issues related to the R&D,
raw materials, design and
specification, maintenance
and monitoring, testing
issues were discussed.
The key challenges are
presented below.
High failure rate: Failure
of distribution transformers
is one of the major causes of
concern for the Indian
transformer industry. A
large number of distribution
transformers have been
failing across the country
both in urban and rural
areas. According to ITMA,
on an average 12-15 per cent
distribution transformers in
urban areas and 20-25 per
cent in rural areas have been
failing every year. In
comparison, only 1 to 2 per
cent of the distribution
transformers fail every year
in developed countries. In
view of this, ITMA and
Bureau of Energy Efficiency
have decided to study the
matter together.
Speaking at Trafosem
2011, ITMA Chairman
Anil Aggarwal stated
that the utilities blame
manufacturers for faulty
design, inferior quality of
material, poor workmanship
and the manufacturers
blame utilities for incorrect
operational procedures, lack
of maintenance. While this
blame game continues, the
utilities and consumers
continue to suffer. He
mentioned that this
situation should not be
allowed to continue for long
and therefore, BEE and
ITMA have decided to come
together and assess major
reasons for failure of
distribution transformers,
loss of energy efficiency of
transformers and evolve
guidelines for both
manufacturers and users
to avoid this colossal loss
to nation.
Some of the reasons
often cited for the failure
of these are prolonged
overloading, faulty terminations,
power theft, wrong
earth connection, and less or
no maintenance.
Level playing field:
Transformer manufacturers
in the country are distressed
over the privileges that
Chinese and Korean
manufacturers enjoy in the country due to free
trade. The industry
representatives at the recent
forum have expressed
concern regarding the
growing share of Chinese
and Korean manufacturers
in the transformer market in
the country.
Speaking on the issues,
the ITMA President stated
that there is real threat
to the transformer
industry from China and
Korea given that 70,000
MVA worth of
transformers have found
way in Indian market.
This will upset the
production schedule of the
domestic manufacturers'
production schedule and
render unemployment.
He stated that the Indian
government should not
allow free trade for foreign
manufacturers and create a
level-playing field by way of
tax structure or subsidies so
that Indian manufacturers
are able to sell their
transformers to China,
Korea and other countries.
He further mentioned that
one-way traffic is not
acceptable and the industry
hopes that the government
will take suitable measures
to stop this disparity.
D J Ramesh, CMD, Vijai
Electricals noted that an
anti-dumping duty must be
imposed on China and Korea
to ensure a level playing field
for the manufacturers. He
said this is important to
make sure that the domestic
manufacturers are not at
receiving end.
Indigenous CRGO
production: ITMA has
requested the government
to explore possibility to
establish manufacturing
facility through Indian
steel giants as the demand
for CRGO (cold rolled
grain oriented steel) is
likely to increase
substantially. The
association informed that
from the current demand
of 3 lakh tonnes per year,
the demand is expected to
go up to 5 lakh tonnes per
year in the 12th Plan
period. The industry
representatives mentioned
that such a facility can give
the sector self-sufficiency
of the raw material and the
domestic manufacturers
will not be affected by the
volatility of the CRGO
market globally.
ITMA officials noted that
manufacturing technology,
though not available in
India, is available with
Indian-owned companies
and their subsidiaries
overseas. Tata Steel has the
technology available in
Corus in UK , they said.