The Hindu Business Line : Poor grid discipline sparks power crunch

Power Blues
On Nov 5 and Nov 6, MSEDCL had to operate under frequency relay on 18 times and 20 times to maintain grid stability.
Under Frequency Relay prevents the State grid from tripping in the event of inadequate power supply.

Rahul Wadke

Mumbai, Nov. 9 Maharashtra is facing power shortage because States in the Northern grid are drawing more power.

They are not maintaining grid discipline and tapping into the Maharashtra’s share of power, which is transmitted from power surplus eastern and north-eastern States.

Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Bihar, Delhi and Haryana are major power guzzlers in the Northern grid.

Due to this indiscipline, the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) is forced to undertake unscheduled power cuts by activating Under Frequency Relay mechanism, sources said.

Power supply

Under Frequency Relay is a balancing mechanism, which prevents the State grid from tripping in the event of inadequate power supply.

On November 5 and November 6, the MSEDCL had to operate under frequency relay on 18 times and 20 times to maintain grid stability.

Recently, Mr Dilip Walse Patil, Energy Minister of Maharashtra, requested the Union Minister for Energy, Mr Sushil Kumar Shinde, over telephone to personally look into the matter, sources said.

Sources said that to reduce load shedding, the MSEDCL was purchasing 700 MW costly power from open market. Even after load-shedding protocol, undeclared power cuts are on rise because of Under Frequency Relay operations.

The instances of unscheduled load shedding increased dramatically after August 2006, when Gorakhpur in Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Muzaffarpur in Bihar were connected through a high-capacity line, which raised the capacity of Northern states to draw power.