Another power house down, cold days ahead

NEW DELHI, December 25: A majority of the city's residents woke up to a cold and dark Christmas as there was a power shortfall today from...

NEW DELHI, December 25: A majority of the city8217;s residents woke up to a cold and dark Christmas as there was a power shortfall today from main supplier northern grid, with a loss of 600 MW after a power house tripped. State Power Minister Narendra Nath said that the shortfall is likely to continue for another couple of days.

Christmas celebrations were marred because of unscheduled load-shedding in several areas. Complained Rosy Mathews, a resident of DDA flats in Munirka: 8220;I can understand, but who will explain to our only five-year-old son why we do not have electricity in our area today. We had made snow with cotton and had decorated our house. The children had even prepared a play. But now all is lost. They are so dejected.8221; Mathews said that yesterday there were long power cuts and the DVB kept saying power will switched on but nothing happened. The DVB spokesperson8217;s explanation: 8220;Today at 4.40 am, Auriya power house, which generates 600 MW, tripped. Thereafter, 400 KV lines of power grid between Obra and Panki, Kanpur and Singrauli and the 400 KV line to Sarhath were lost causing major disruption in northern grid. This resulted in the drop in frequency in the northern grid8221;.

Power generation has fallen because of the weather. Coupled with that is the problem of increased demand for power because heaters and geysers are being used because of the cold. 8220;We have had no alternative but to resort to load shedding again,8221; said a DVB official. 8220;The fall in frequency from the grid led to 12 under-frequency tripping that occurred between 4.40 am and 9 am in Delhi. We have been forced to resort to one-and-a-half hour duration rotational load-shedding as per schedule which was decided at a high level meeting,8221; the spokesman added. Residents in several areas, however, complained that power cuts were more than six hours long.

Kumar Manoj, a resident of Dilshad Garden, said: 8220;Yesterday, there was no electricity for nine straight hours. In Dilshad Garden the municipality releases water only for two hours in the mornings and evenings. Yesterday we did not have water because of the power cuts.8221; Parts of Patparganj, Ganesh Nagar and Madhuban also faced frequent power cuts. 8220;Not only are there long hours of power cuts, but even when there is power, there is a lot of voltage fluctuation. This is bad for our electrical appliances and eyes too,8221; complained Radhey Shyam Garg, an octogenarian from Maduban.

State power minister Narendra Nath said: 8220;We had a shortfall of 150 MW today from the grid. The situation is likely to remain the same till generation improves,8221; he said. He also said that the DVB would install meters outside the industries in the industrial area. And it would be in their interest to halt power theft since the industrialists would have to pay money in face of the total power used.

Nath urged Delhiites to conserve electricity. 8220;People now have to come forward and cooperate with the DVB. Use electrical appliances sparingly and switching off power whenever not needed,8221; he added.

And this when DVB claimed that it had successfully met an all-time high demand of 2,422 MW yesterday and that frequency was above 50 Hertz.