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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Black Monday: A disaster just waiting to happen-Sanjay Dutta

Black Monday: A disaster just waiting to happen-Sanjay Dutta

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published Published on Jul 31, 2012   modified Modified on Jul 31, 2012
-The Times of India

Monday's blackout in nine northern states following a grid collapse was a disaster waiting to happen. With most states in the region facing perennial shortages of power, they are prone to drawing more than their share from the grid, leaving it precariously poised.

Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan are notorious among load despatchers for their wanton disregard of planned drawal. All are agricultural states and also house major industries. But successive state governments have done precious little to ramp up generation capacity. This has created a wide demand-supply mismatch. The current dry spell has worsened the situation, sparking a rush for power from the farming sector. Overdrawal, or sucking more than the scheduled quantity, is quite common in the northern grid. Drawing more or less power changes the frequency, which can change the voltage and trip the network.

In spite of a penalty imposed on each unit of overdrawn power, it still works out cheaper for states than buying electricity from the open market. And even if a state buys from the spot market in a contingency, wheeling the power could pose a problem since there's no guarantee the grid would have spare capacity at that point. But what explains the insufficient generation capacity in the first place? One major reason, though not the only one, is that state electricity boards are almost without exception cash-starved. Governments that insist on free power to the farm sector and other such populist measures clearly have contributed to that situation.

Given the demand-supply mismatch and the consequent temptation to draw more than their share, a 2002 official report had warned that stripping the national transmission utility of powers to regulate electricity flow in the network would increase the threat of major blackouts. The prophecy appears to have come true on Monday.

The report, prepared by a team of officials after studying power reforms in China, stressed the need to keep control over electricity flow with PowerGrid Corporation, which operates the grid. But the Centre carved out a separate entity, Power System Operation Corporation, to manage power despatch. "The grid collapse is an administrative failure. It shows the fallacy of separating grid and load despatch operations. PowerGrid's powers to enforce grid discipline has been diluted by creation of a separate entity for managing despatch," R P Singh, who served as PowerGrid chairman for almost a decade, told ToI.

"I cannot comment on the reason for today's grid collapse. But discipline in respect of drawal of power and maintenance of frequency is necessary for operation of a grid. Overdrawal has become easier with interconnect. So there is need to give the load despatch centres more statutory and enforcement powers," former power secretary Anil Razdan told TOI. "None of our states have a contingency plan. They do not have capacity booked with generation companies or grid for a situation where, say, one of their own plants go on the blink or demand suddenly rises. They neither plan for 24X7 supply nor are ready to pay. If you book capacity you have to pay," Razdan said.

PowerGrid chairman A M Nayak, however, is confident of enforcing grid discipline. "We have a robust and modern system. I am sure we tackle situations in future also."

But the bottomline is that the grid is only the courier. If there isn't enough to go around, disciplining the grid can at best ensure that everyone suffers equally.

The Times of India, 31 July, 2012, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Black-Monday-A-disaster-just-waiting-to-happen/articleshow/15284404.cms


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