Technical glitches, surge in demand lead to power outages across Ggm

Residents of at least 10 sectors in Gurugram have faced long power outages for the past five days, due to ongoing construction work on the smart city project and line snags, according to officials from the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam. The overheating of vacuum circuit breakers due to a sudden increase in power demand in Sushant Lok-1, 2, and 3 and in DLF areas was also cited as a reason. Residents have complained of power outages lasting up to 10 hours, leading to increased maintenance charges as generator sets are being used to run facilities in condominiums.

Gurugram: Residents of at least 10 sectors across Gurugram reeled under long power outages in the last five days, discom officials said on Thursday

Gurugram, India-May 25 : A DHBVN worker repairing the damaged wire due to overload on a hot summer day at 4/8 Marla Near Government School, in Gurugram, India, on Thursday, 25 May 2023. (Photo by Parveen Kumar/Hindustan Times)(Pic to go with Leena Dhankar's story)

According to Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) officials, ongoing construction work on the smart city project and line snags triggered outages in several areas. “Overheating of the vacuum circuit breakers (VCBs) at a few substations due to a sudden increase in power demand in Sushant Lok-1, 2 and 3 and in DLF areas led to power disruption for five consecutive days,” said a senior discom official.

Shanili Pannu, DHBVN executive engineer of sub-urban division of Gurugram Circle-II, said the outages were due to the overheating of the VCBs in the 11kV power supply feeder in Sector 56.

“There were power outages, but all the faults have been rectified and the overheating issue stabilised by 8am on Wednesday. “Now, the situation is under control and there have been no outage complaints from consumers,” Pannu added.

Residents from areas such as DLF phases 1, 2 3, sectors 5, 22,40, 45, 46, 48, 56, 57, Palam Vihar and Ashok Vihar, however, said power outages persisted even on Thursday. The power cuts also led to an increase in their maintenance charges as generator sets are being used to run facilities in condominiums, they said.

Residents said they suffered from power outages for as long as 10 hours.

Dhruv Bansal, spokesperson of DLF Qutub Enclave Residents’ Welfare Association, said electricity supply has been erratic in DLF phases1,2 and 3.

“Although the discom officials have been very prompt and tried their best to restore power, the fault lies with the inadequate infrastructure which has not been updated in proportion to the occupancy rate of the colonies. The existing infrastructure needs an overhaul on an immediate basis,” he said.

Sudhir Sachdeva, a resident of Sushant Lok 1, said the electrical infrastructure is not sufficient due to the mushrooming of new builder floors. “The DHBVN is collecting a hefty amount for new meter connections but not upgrading the infrastructure. This is the main reason for these long outages and regular voltage fluctuations,” he said.

Sachdeva said residents have met discom officials many times to highlight their plight and sought a permanent solution to their woes. “We are suffering in these summer months and the situation has become worse with the rise in mercury levels,” he said.

Joginder Singh, former RWA president of Sushant Lok 3, said there were power outages for at least 10 hours on a daily basis in the last five days due to technical glitches.

“The residents are unable to sleep at night due to frequent and long power cuts. Old transformers and electricity lines have crumbled under extreme heat and increased load adds to more power cuts. The increase in power demand puts additional pressure on the existing infrastructure and short circuits are common. Residents of privately developed townships are also caught in the crossfire between the state-run discom and private developers. Both pass the buck on each other, and residents suffer,” Singh said.

DHBVN officials said due to an increase in demand, loadshedding/power cuts are necessitated to maintain grid discipline and grid frequency. Officials said high-tension wires developed snags and over a dozen feeders in Circle 1 broke down due to the overload.

Officials said a surge in power demand due to the hot and humid weather resulted in the overheating of VCBs.

“The VCBs on the 11kV feeder, supplying power to Sushant Lok 2 and 3 got overheated on the night of May 23. We shifted the load to an independent feeder. However, the load was so high that within four to five hours, the VCBs got overheated and a blast in another equipment took place,” said a senior DHBVN official.

He said on May 24, the load for Sushant Lok 2 and 3 was transferred to VCBs of another independent feeder. “Since then, no more overheating problems have been reported and the power supply has been smooth,” he added.