Power cuts back to haunt national capital

Power cuts, stretching up to three hours, returned to haunt residents of many areas of south and central Delhi today owing to a major snag that led to a shortfall of up to 1,300 MW in the afternoon when electricity demand usually touches its daily peak.
Delhi Power Minister Satyender Jain told reporters that supply was affected as power generation units at the Badarpur Thermal Power Station (BTPS) and the Pragati Power Plant tripped after a current transformer of the 220kV Samaypur - Palwal line blasted.
Supply got crippled around 2.30 PM when the city's peak power load was around 5,800 MW, authorities said. The system was "fully normalised" by 5.30 PM, state-run Delhi Transco said.

Meanwhile, the Delhi government said the NTPC-run Badarpur plant was operating below capacity since May 1.
"Badarpur power plant was closed for two hours on May 1, for 21 hours on May 10. One of its units remained completely dysfunctional between May 11 and May 21. It was again closed between June 3 and June 6. It affected power supply in south and east Delhi," Jain said.
The thermal power plant, which is coal-based, was identified as a major polluter by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) last year and was served an immediate closure notice, although later a 210 MW unit was given permission to operate, while four others were shut down.