Ministry promises to resolve Delhi power crisis in a fortnight

NTPC, BHEL, GAIL, DMRC, Powergrid roped in for emergency repair

Attributing the power crisis in the national capital to the “poor decision making” of the previous government, the power ministry has promised quick repair of damaged transmission lines to restore supply. To repair the lines, the ministry has roped in multiple agencies, including, Power Grid Corporation of India, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), GAIL, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

Following a thunderstorm on May 30, residents in the eastern, western and central areas of the capital have been hit by long power cuts. The storm had severely damaged major power transmission lines across the city.

Piyush Goyal, Union minister of state for power, on Tuesday convened a meeting with Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and officials of transmission and distribution companies. “It will take 15 days to restore normal power supply. Temporary measures to boost generation have been put in place. Currently, only 5,300 Mw of Delhi’s 5,800-Mw power demand is being met,” Goyal said after the meeting.

State-owned NTPC has agreed to release gas to the Bawana project in Delhi. “The total generation capacity of the Bawana gas-based plant is 1,500 Mw. But currently, only 290 Mw is being generated. NTPC has consented to release as much gas as required by the plant to generate more power. We will make available fuel for generating 400 Mw of additional power in Delhi by 8 pm on Tuesday,” Goyal said.

The ministry said the transmission system here wasn’t capable of meeting peak demand, as in the past 12 years, adequate investment hadn’t been made to strengthen the network. Owing to this, as demand peaked, it resulted in overloading and tripping of lines.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Goyal asked PowerGrid to carry out permanent restoration of three damaged 220-Kv lines —Gopalpur-Mandola, Bamnauli-Papankalan and Bawana-Rohini — within two weeks. He also directed DMRC to assist transmission utility Delhi Transco in repairing the Maharani Bagh-Trauma Centre line and the 400-Kv Dadri-Loni-Harsh Vihar line within a week.

“BSES and Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd, the two discoms in Delhi, have been instructed to become more responsive to power complaints,” Goyal said, adding all the offices of these entities would work 24x7 till the power crisis ended.

While GAIL has been asked to divert part of NTPC’s allocated gas to the Bawana plant, BHEL has been tasked with commissioning a unit of the Pragati gas-based plant, currently under repair, urgently. Goyal has asked the Delhi administration to draw up a long-term plan for a reliable power system and upgrade of infrastructure at the earliest.

NEED FOR POWER

THE PROBLEM:

• Record demand in Intense summer heat, coupled with thunderstorm, damaged three 220 KV arterial transmission lines.
• Damage spread to sub-transmission system snapping power supply for residents. Eastern, centre and western parts of Delhi worse affected as residents face over six-hour outages.

THE SOLUTION:

• PowerGrid-supplied Emergency restoration System (ERS) helps address crisis by taking over a part of supply.
• PowerGrid directed to take up permanent restoration of lines within two weeks.
• GAIL diverted gas from NTPC’s quota for generation of 400 Mw at Bawana plant that supplies to Delhi.
• BHEL directed to urgently commission a unit of Pragati gas-based plant currently under repair.
• Delhi government asked to monitor implementation of 8 sub-stations and 7 transmission lines under execution.
• DMRC asked to assist Delhi Transco to repair Maharani Bagh-Trauma Centre line and 400 KV Dadri-Loni-Harsh Vihar line in two weeks.
• Discoms asked to put up load-relief schedules on websites, ramp up capacity of complaint centers.