Steel Ministry Bans Import Of Low-Grade Transformer Components.

The government has banned import of low-grade version of a critical transformer component, a development that promises to vastly reduce power breakdowns. The steel ministry , in its quality control order on June 24, mandated Bureau of Indian Standards certification for coal rolled grain-oriented steel sheets, also called electrical sheets, which form about 35% of the cost of a transformer.

A senior Central Electricity Authority official said the decision would benefit the transmission and distribution sector, which suffers from high commercial losses. Substandard sheets cause frequent breakdown of transformers and reduce their running life but are preferred because they are cheaper. Eight countries, including Japan, Korea, France, Russia, the US and the UK, produce such sheets, which can be freely imported by Indian users.

Hailing the move, the Indian Transformer Manufacturer Association said the ban would not result in cost escalation . Transformers made with superior quality cold rolled grain oriented steel are costlier by 10% than those using scrap material. Power distribution transformers using second-grade electrical sheets run for just three to four years against the industry norm of 20-25 years, the association's president , Anil Aggarwal, said.

India consumes about 2.5 lakh tonnes of cold rolled grain oriented steel sheets, of which 1.7 lakh tonnes is second grade and only 0.8 lakh tonnes is of prime quality, he said. "India is known as international graveyard of such second-grade sheets. Traders and many transformer makers are importing low-quality steel leading to deterioration in the quality of transformers," Aggarwal , also managing director of PME Power Solutions (India), said. "Some 150 users import cold rolled grain-oriented steel sheets.

Most of them are lobbying for revocation of the present order citing shortage of raw material for manufacturing transformers," Aggarwal said. "We have asked the government to hasten the process so that only prime material starts flowing in," he added. In September 2008, the government had notified use of electrical steel sheets from February 12, 2009. But the order was revoked before it came into effect, opening door to unrestricted electrical steel sheets imports.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com