The Hindu : New Delhi News : Power situation likely to improve

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 03, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Power situation likely to improve

Staff Reporter

Several plants expected to start functioning soon

NEW DELHI: With the 1,500 MW Nathpa Jhakri power plant in Himachal Pradesh now returning to a generation level of over 1,000 MW and the 500 MW Singrauli plant likely to start functioning on Tuesday, there is hope that the power situation in Delhi would improve due to better supply and more stable frequency in the Northern Grid. The Nathpa Jhakri plant had been shut down last year due to high silt content in the waters while the Singrauli plant had been under maintenance for some time.

According to sources, the 500 MW Rihand power plant is also expected to start functioning normally from May 10 and thereafter the Dadri plant is expected to normalise by around May 15. The revival of these plants would provide greater stability to the grid and also improve the power availability in Delhi. Presently closure of one unit each at IP Plant, Gas Turbine, Raj Ghat, Singrauli, Dadri and Rihand and three units at Auraiya has cumulatively left Delhi 400 MW short of its power requirements.

Though Delhi on Monday night overdrew as much as 450 MW from the Northern Grid and even on Tuesday was overdrawing around 275 MW to meet its demands, such practice does not amount to `good discipline' and brings the grid on the verge of collapse by pulling down the frequency.

A senior official of the Northern Region Load Dispatch Centre said total peak supply had increased to about 23,000 MW but it was still less than the requirement of around 26,000 MW. However, with the Rihand, Singrauli and Dadri units coming back to the fold, the supply is expected to improve to over 24,000 MW.

In view of the power crisis in the whole of North India, the Centre has also convened a meeting of Energy Secretaries and Chief Secretaries of all the Northern States -- namely Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal -- next week to review the situation and take stock of the measures of grid discipline. Directives for the same had been issued recently by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission and Central Electricity Authority.

CERC had earlier warned distribution companies and state electricity boards not to overdraw power from the Northern Grid. Prior to this the Power Grid Corporation had lodged a complaint with the Commission against them.

Sources said prompt action by NRLDC had saved the day on Monday as following multiple tripping in Alwar due to strong winds and tripping of a 315 MVA transformer at Ballabgarh it quickly isolated these areas. Though efforts were also made to save the Badarpur Thermal Power Station plant after the Badarpur-Ballabhgarh line tripped, the plant could not survive. A senior official said from a macro grid perspective, the problem that led to a major 800 MW shortage in power in Delhi on Monday night was only a `localised' one. Had there been more delay, the entire grid could have collapsed. However, even as the closure of the 630 MW Badarpur plant last night was enough to give lakhs of Delhiites a sleepless night it shows the importance of grid discipline.

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