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Northern Grid trips again, city in dark as winter demand rises
Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: The northern grid collapsed again on Saturday evening at around 6.30 pm and blacked out half the city. The disturbance in the grid tripped Badarpur, Rajghat and the Indraprastha power plants, causing power production to fall by 1,400 MW.

A DVB spokesperson said only the gas turbines were able to withstand the grid problems and continued power production. Later, two units of the IP power station and one of Badarpur resumed generation and by around 8 pm power supply was restored to nearly 70 per cent of the city. A DVB spokesperson said all the units will be normal by around midnight and supply will be restored.

The winter demand touched its peak on Saturday, with estimated demand crossing 2,600 MW in the morning. Earlier during the day, the DVB could provide only 2,200 MW and had to loadshed around 400 MW. The DVB was expecting around 150 to 200 MW more from the northern grid, but with some hydro power stations and the Dadri unit not generating power, fell short of power.

DVB sources said loadshedding was done on Saturday morning between 7 am to 11 am on an hourly basis in each area. It was primarily resorted to in theft- prone areas and industrial areas like Mayapuri, Wazirpur, Inderpuri, Naraina and Okhla. The source added that feeder lines to the industrial areas were switched off.

The northern grid had collapsed on Thursday, tripping all the power stations in Delhi. The grid problems were so severe that the entire city went without power for around half-an-hour. Even the VIP areas did not have electricity for a short while. Most parts of the city went without power for the entire day, while almost all areas had power problems for hours on end.

-- LSRY2K (admin@lsry2k.net), January 09, 2000