The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has initiated a probe into the national grid failiures of Monday and Tuesday.
Yesterday, it directed the chief executive officer of Power System Operation Corporation (POSCO) and the chairman of Power Grid Corporation to file a report on the issue by the coming Wednesday.
The probe was initiated under Section 79 (1) (c) of the Electricity Act, 2003. It empowers CERC to regulate inter-state transmission.
The grid collapses, noted CERC, “affected communication, essential services, industry, economy and the life of people in a large way. Power failure of such a magnitude on consecutive days is alarming and needs to be investigated in detail.”
The respondents in the CERC’s self-moved petition are the National Load Despatch Centre and Power Grid. POSCO is a subsidiary of the latter.
CERC has directed the investigators to look into conditions of frequency, inter-state line flow, voltages and conditions of outage at such points prior to the disturbance. And, to look into the report of the sequence of events maintained by regional load dispatch centres and any related items.
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The Union power ministry has already announced an inquiry into the grid collapses by a three-member panel headed by the Central Electricity Authority chairman. Power Grid has announced its own internal probe.
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry has called for strict adherence by states to the grid code by states. Vivek Pandit, its director (energy), told Business Standard, “At our power committee, we reviewed the grid failure and various measures to avoid such instances in future. There was unanimity that power regulators will need to act with an iron hand against states in the wake of their repeated non-compliance to the grid code. Grid discipline is of paramount importance.”
Pandit also said CERC would also have to review the penalty of Rs 1 lakh announced against overdrawing states.