Grid problems cited as cause of New Delhi power outages

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Link to story by Times of India:

http://www.timesofindia.com/today/06mdel14.htm

NEW DELHI: The city witnessed heavy power cuts on Wednesday morning and evening with the DVB resorting to loadshedding to the tune of 325 MWs even as the peak demand in the morning and evening touched 2436 MWs and 2425 MWs respectively. The power cuts were widespread and many areas in east Delhi had no power for more than half a day. On Tuesday night also, the city was plunged into darkness as the Badarpur and Rajghat power plants tripped because of grid problems. DVB member technical M K Gupta said, ``Rajghat was affected for less than an hour. The plant tripped at 11 pm but was restored by 11.45 pm.'' Gupta added that the other two DVB plants -gas turbine station and the IP power station -were not affected by the problem in the grid.

-- Carl Jenkins (somewherepress@aol.com), January 05, 2000

Answers

Hi

This may not be y2k-related at all. *However*, this is the type of "degrading system" that experts such as Rick Cowles and the ICC warned us about. The idea that it would all go down at once is Hollywood. This one is worth some surveillance.

-- Bud Hamilton (budham@hotmail.com), January 06, 2000.


One area of interest to watch out for is "unsteady power". This type of problem will be voltage surges (overvoltage) and sags (undervoltage) seen at the outlet. The cause is usually an inability to regulate the grid for some period of time (usually brief). A major plant or several plants going off line unexpectedly or lots of consumption occuring unexpectedly are the normal culprits. A planned sag is called a brownout.

If there are unexpected glitches in a power generation/transmission/ distribution system, the first indication will be noticable unsteady power. This area does need watching.

-- Dave Hall (dhall@enteract.com), January 06, 2000.


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