North India Power Blackout: Power Minister appointed a panel to probe

July 31, New Delhi: Seven north indian states was hit by a massive power outage on Monday that began at 2:30 am after the country’s Northern Grid network collapsed. The power cut impacted between 350 - 370 million people in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.

It also impacted train and metro services in Delhi, with 200 trains running late. The power cuts also hit water treatment plants and impacted water supply.

Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has appointed a panel to probe the causes of the blackout and the report is likely to be submitted within 15 days, but the reasons are amply clear.

It will be at least two weeks before the committee set up to probe the cause of the northern grid collapse submits its report, but a close look at the report of the National Load Dispatch Center (NLDC) suggests that indiscipline on the part of states in electricity withdrawal from the grid may have caused it.

In May this year, the Central Electricity Regulatory Authority (CERC) had issued notices to heads of the state load dispatch centres (SLDCs) of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana to stop overdrawing electricity from the northern grid.

In its notice, the CERC had advised the SLDCs to make adequate arrangements to purchase power to meet the anticipated demand during summer/monsoon. However, these states did not maintain the grid discipline even after getting the show cause notice.
In June, Uttar Pradesh withdrew 3,762 MU (million units of power) as against its allotted share of 3,011 MU. The per-day overdrawal average was 25 MU. Haryana withdrew 20,648 MU as against its scheduled limit of 1,817 MU. Rajasthan’s actual drawing from the grid was 1,505 MU as against its schedule of 1,407 MU.

The report for July will be released in a few days and will bring out the final picture.

Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab faced severe power crisis this summer due to unavailability of fuel for their power plants. The peak time power deficit in these states was recorded at 16.3%, 9.7% and 11.5% respectively.

“Over withdrawal from the grid happens during summer every year, we levy penalty on the state electricity boards for failing to maintain discipline on the grid,” CERC chairman Pramod Deo said.

According to CERC rules, if the frequency band dips below 49.2 Hz, SDLCs have to shell out Rs 18 as UI (Unscheduled Interchange) rate for power drawn from the grid.

Monday’s blackout hit 8,000 mega watts capacity of the country’s largest electricity producing good. As of now 85 percent of power supply has been restored.

News Gathered by India News

Posted by Preeti on Tuesday, July 31st, 2012. Filed under India News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.