The Hindu : New Delhi News : Some relief for power-starved Delhi

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Wednesday, Jun 13, 2007
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New Delhi

Some relief for power-starved Delhi

Staff Reporter

Damodar Valley Corporation has agreed to provide 50 MW of power from today

NEW DELHI: After reeling under hot weather and frequent power cuts for days, the city will finally have some relief. The Damodar Valley Corporation has agreed to provide 50 MW of power on a round-the-clock basis from Wednesday.

The Delhi Government's Power Department had sought help from DVC to tide over a power crisis arising out of intense heat that led to a drastic jump in power consumption. The DVC decision comes as a relief to the Department as it struggles to reduce the gap between demand and supply.

The city's consumption of power has increased considerably following the rise in temperature.

Power Department officials said the energy supplied for the first 11 days of this month stands at 864.5 mu, which is 11.5 per cent higher than the energy supplied during the corresponding period in 2006.

On Tuesday, a dip in temperature seemed to have little impact on the consumption of power in the city. A day after the Capital's power consumption rose to a new high of 4,030 MW, the peak load on the system was recorded just notches below at 3,913 MW.

But even as the Power Department claimed to have met the city's demand with negligible load shedding, there was a shortfall of over 300 MW.

With two units of the Rajghat plant not working, the total power generation stood at 1,194 MW. Delhi overdrew about 83 MW from the Northern Grid, while Badarpur plant supplied 633 MW, Gas Turbine generated 177 MW, 120 MW came from Indraprastha and Pragati generated 264 MW.

"The peak load of 3,913 MW was met at 4-38 p.m. with no tripping on account of under frequency. Load shedding amounting to 2 MW has been carried out by BRPL due to overloading of a 20 MVA transformer at Okhla Phase II," power department officials said, adding, "We are hopeful of restoring the two units of Rajghat plant that are shut due to maintenance to check the circulating water pump leakage by midnight."

Battling major electricity equipment failure for the third time in a week, offices in parts of Connaught Place remained powerless for most part of the day. The New Delhi Municipal Council officials were unable to explain the sudden breakdown in the high-voltage equipment near Scindia House.

"We don't know how there have been so many problems in this area suddenly. But we are trying to rectify it," said an NDMC official.

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