The Hindu : New Delhi News : Power Ministry convenes meeting on grid safety

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 30, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

New Delhi

New Delhi

Power Ministry convenes meeting on grid safety

Smriti Kak Ramachandran

Sustained overdrawal of power by U.P., Rajasthan and J&K

Delhi bearing the brunt of grid indiscipline
Under-frequency reported 55 times on Tuesday

NEW DELHI: Alarmed by the threat to the safety of the Northern Grid by continuous overdrawal of power, the Union Power Ministry has decided to call a meeting of the States that draw power from the grid. The meeting, scheduled for this Friday, will be chaired by Union Power Secretary Anil Razdan and will include Power Secretaries of all the States that draw power from the Northern, Eastern, Western and the North-Eastern grid.

Even though all States have been asked to maintain grid discipline and refrain from overdrawing power, there has been no let-up in the under-frequency in the grid. On Tuesday, under-frequency was reported 55 times till late afternoon.

A senior official of the Delhi Government’s Power Department said the Union Power Ministry’s intervention comes in the wake of sustained overdrawal of power by Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir and so on.

“Load-shedding is being carried out across the city as a result of other States failing to stick to their allocated share. Delhi has been bearing the brunt of this grid indiscipline and has asked the Centre to take action against the errant States,” the official said.With maximum tripping occurring between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. and 12 a.m., distribution companies are forced to carry out load-shedding.

“The recurrent tripping is not good for the equipment and poses a threat to the security of the grid. In spite of repeated reminders to States to refrain from overdrawing when the frequency dips to 48.5 Hz., we have recorded under frequency 50 times in a day,” the official said.

On Tuesday, when Delhi’s power generation was close to 1,200 MW, the maximum load recorded was 3,327 MW at 3-21 p.m. Power cuts were reported in several areas and the worst hit were Mayur Vihar Phase I, Phase II and Phase III, Anand Vihar in East Delhi and GK and Lajpat Nagar in South Delhi.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi