http://www.timesofindia.com/today/04mpat11.htm

Power Crisis in India: India Times

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), January 03, 2000

Answers

Wish I could hotlink. Excellent full length article on what looks like a major outage in "north Bihar". OUtage is exepcted to improce only in mid-FEBRUARY!! when a kit from Japan is "expected" and "scheduled" to arrive. "The ONLY HOPE for increasing the capacity of power transmission from Hthidah side is that a power kit is scheduled to arrive from Japan in February [HUH? do NEXT DAY AIR!!] This is expected to increase load capacity to 100 MW. Moreover, the transmission tower which fell in the Ganga off Fatuha is also likely to be erected by JUne next, sources said"

"Power crisis is quite grave ...."

-- SH (squirrel@huntr.com), January 03, 2000.

MUZAFFARPUR: The power position in Muzaffarpur and other parts of north Bihar is likely to improve after January 11 when the second unit of Muzaffarpur Thermal Power Station (MTPS), Kanti is expected to resume its generation after a two-month-long mini capital maintenance.

The situation may further look up next month with the rise in transmission capacity across the Ganga from Hathidah grid in February when a power kit from Japan is expected to arrive.

But it all depends on the mercy of the Central Load and Despatch section of Bihar State Electricity Board which has been discriminating against north Bihar for reasons best known to the board's highest authorities at Patna. Even when MTPS generates 50 MW, Muzaffarpur's share is well below 10 MW, as against its requirement of 40 MW, even during the current winter.

Unit number one of MTPS is, by and large, generating 45 to 50 MW for the last several months, according to sources in the thermal plant.

The second unit is scheduled to go into operation on January 11. The total generation of MTPS would be between 40 and 100 MW against the total installed capacity of 220 MW. Sources disclosed that all requisite maintenance work has been completed in unit number two but the actual supply may be delayed by a day or two in the preparation of taking the increased load from MTPS. The local engineers do not apprehend any major problem from the unit because the "mini" work was completed in only a couple of months, whereas the full capital maintenance traditionally consumes a minimum of six to nine months, and sometimes even more than a year.

The main problem for north Bihar has been the poor transmission capacity. Whereas MTPS Kanti and Barauni thermal power station have not been up to the mark, the board does not have enough capacity to bring power from south Bihar grids. The cable across the Ganga from Hathidah can take a load of only 40 MW. That apart, no power is coming from that route for the last one month because of a major fault in the transmission line there. The chairman of the power board has been reminded time and again but the fault has not been removed, sources in the power supply complained. The board is somewhat fulfilling the requirement of the Champaran belt by drawing power from Nepal. But other parts of north Bihar including Muzaffarpur are starved of power.

The only hope for increasing the capacity of power transmission from Hathidah side is that a power kit is scheduled to arrive from Japan in February. This is expected to increase the load capacity to 100 MW.

Moreover, the transmission tower which fell in the Ganga off Fatuha is also likely to be erected by June next, sources said. The work, however, at present, is far from satisfactory in this connection. It may be completed within three months if done continuously, but resources, as well as the will power for the work, are lacking.

However, the power crisis that Muzaffarpur is presently facing is quite grave. It seems it is nobody's concern to ensure power supply at Muzaffarpur. The consumers are all the more surprised to experience such a crisis during mid-winter when the domestic load comes to the lowest level. The result of the crisis is very alarming. This has thrown the consumers to the clutches of diesel generator operators who have already increased the price of power from Rs 100 to 150 per point (100 watt). Sale of battery-inverters has gone up many times. But the water supply continues to be affected badly as the diesel generators and inverters are unable to take the load of water pumps in the consumers' houses.

-- Another good catch! (Carl@new.homer.type?), January 03, 2000.

Times of India

-- Uncle Bob (UNCLB0B@AOL.COM), January 03, 2000.

Do they actually teach people to READ in schools anymore?

My reading comprehension is pretty darn good. I got a perfect "800" on the verbal section of the GREs, just to give my credentials.

I can't find anything one can even REMOTELY relate to Y2K problems in that article, no matter how many powerful psych meds one is on. There isn't the slightest intimation that anything started/got worse after the rollover.

Basically it's a large-scale fixed hardware problem/decisionmaking deal. Not enough lines/plants built, people are deciding to distribute limited power elsewhere. And note it's been a problem for "months."

People are somehow surprised that Third World Countries have power problems/shortages? Gee, that NEVER happened before Jan. 1?

-- John Krempasky (johnk@dmv.com), January 03, 2000.

Hmmm, John. I thought I read the article, where it said, under the headline POWER CRISIS HITS MUZAFFARPUR:

'However, the power crisi that Muzaffarpur is PRESENTLY FACING is quite grave. It seems it is nobody's concern to ensure power supply at Muzaffarpur. The conumsers are all the more SURPRISED TO EXPERIENCE SUCH A CRISIS DURING MID-WINTER when the domestic load comes to the lowest level. The result of the crisis is very alarming. This has thrown the consumers to the clutches of diesel generator operators who have already increased the price of power .... " etc.

Makes me think of the East Coast, with 3-4 nukes on hot standby, and those locomotive-sized generators being positioned in D.C. However, I'll read the article again.

-- SH (squirrel@huntr.com), January 03, 2000.

One important part of reading comprehension is actually reading the whole article.

Lets review some of the key portions of the article and I'll helpfully dumb-down some of the more complicated sentences for those of you having problems.

"Kanti is expected to resume its generation after a two-month-long mini capital maintenance."

(Translation: One of the units of an important power station has been down for maintenance for TWO MONTHS and things will get better after it's working again. Two Months ago was November.)

Of course, the fanatical doomer response will be that it had to be worked on to fix Y2K problems before they happened or some such nonsense, on the premise that all mechanical/computer devices work perfectly everywhere, all the time, and the only thing that is capable of breaking them is Y2K.

"But it all depends on the mercy of the Central Load and Despatch section of Bihar State Electricity Board which has been discriminating against north Bihar for reasons best known to the board's highest authorities at Patna. Even when MTPS generates 50 MW, Muzaffarpur's share is well below 10 MW, as against its requirement of 40 MW, even during the current winter."

(Translation: In a horribly overpopulated, technologically backward country, it's common for there to be not enough power to go around. May come as a shock to particularly clueless American doomers who were completely unaware of the rest of the world till they started spending 20 hours a day combing newswires and foreign newspapers for anything bad at the stroke of midnight Jan. 1. I doubt any of you jokers running around breathlessly posting wire articles about outhouses backing up in Southwest Nepal or whatever could actually find any of these places on the map.

A bunch of bureaucratic weasels are screwing North Bihar out of power, over other areas, for unknown reasons.)

"The main problem for north Bihar has been the poor transmission capacity. Whereas MTPS Kanti and Barauni thermal power station have not been up to the mark, the board does not have enough capacity to bring power from south Bihar grids. The cable across the Ganga from Hathidah can take a load of only 40 MW. That apart, no power is coming from that route for the last one month because of a major fault in the transmission line there."

(Translation: There physically isn't a way to get enough power to North Bihar. Note the "LAST ONE MONTH". That's since early December. There's a transmission line which hasn't been fixed.)

"Moreover, the transmission tower which fell in the Ganga off Fatuha is also likely to be erected by June next, sources said. The work, however, at present, is far from satisfactory in this connection. It may be completed within three months if done continuously, but resources, as well as the will power for the work, are lacking."

(Translation: One of those big tower thingies that carry the juice fell in the freakin' Ganges River. I suppose Y2K had geological effects last year. But, surprise surprise, India lacks reasources and has a crippling, lazy, incompetent bureacracy and it's taking forever to replace the damn thing.)

-- John H Krempasky (johnk@dmv.com), January 03, 2000.

Thanks, John. That explains it all for me. The article of course does not state that the "2-month long mini-capital maintenance" which is evidently still ongoing, was NOT related to Y2K. If you can rule out the possibility by inference, can I leave it open? Just chekcing.

OT -- I see you're at the DMV posting? Which dmv, and hows the computers there ...?

-- SH (squirrel@huntr.com), January 03, 2000.

I live in a particularly isolated and backward portion of Maryland known as the "Eastern Shore." I have a remarkably limited choice of ISPs, and the best-operating one, Del-Mar-Va Online!, in their infinite wisdom chose "dmv.com" as their domain name.

You're about the 5,424,231,123th person to ask if I/assume I work at the DMV :-)

If it WAS the DMV, it would be dmv.gov, of course. And Maryland has an MVA, not a DMV, anyway.

Only failure I can identify is my 20-year old dryer stopped producing hot air on Jan. 1. I found my clothesline to be Y2K compliant, however :-)

-- John H Krempasky (johnk@dmv.com), January 03, 2000.

Aloha John, No need to be testy about us real reporters doing the work the mass media is paid not to do:)...Must bother you a lot that some of us actually know how to do our researching...While you're in a froth, try this looking at this story about 10 people who died in India:

http://www.timesofindia.com/today/03mdel1.htm

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), January 03, 2000.

Aloha John, No need to be testy about us real reporters doing the work the mass media is paid not to do:)...Must bother you a lot that some of us actually know how to do our researching..

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), January 03, 2000.

Carl, you are joking right???? What kind of research is that? Prove it is NOT a Y2K problem? Try looking at the odds here. Every backwards country in the work has NOT lost power due to Y2K, so what are the odds that this one problem, that has details as to why it is having problems, is down due to Y2K remediation or Y2K problems?

What a joke. After all that has happened do you honestly believe ANYONE will believe your "take" on the problem?

Get real!

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), January 03, 2000.

Hi Cherri, guess John had a quick sex change:) I don't have any take on this. But I wonder what makes you so sure that a lot of things aren't being acurately reported. Frankly, I don't know if some of these incidents are y2k related or not. I'm just raising questions, which once upon a time was what journalists were paid to do. Currently all the talking heads do is regurgitate press releases from corporations and government entities who have often proven to be less than forthcoming with information that might be damaging to their images and their bottom line. There is very little investigative journalism being performed. My only hope is that someone will follow up on some of these stories and see what, if any information might be gleaned from them. Aloha,

-- Carl Jenkins (somewherepress@aol.com), January 03, 2000.