An ‘island’, Mumbai can cut itself off grid failure

Can Delhi free itself of the persistent grid failures and ensure that such outages do not affect power supply in the national Capital?

Can Delhi free itself of the persistent grid failures and ensure that such outages do not affect power supply in the national Capital?

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The answer lies in the unique 'islanding facility' available to south Mumbai which ensures uninterrupted power supply to City Maximum irrespective of grid performance.

In case of a collapse at the western grid, of which Mumbai is a part, south Mumbai is able to cut itself off the grid and starts drawing power directly from a generating station.

South Mumbai has several vital installations such as the secretariat, the Bombay Stock Exchange, the Bombay High Court, residences of the Maharashtra governor and the ministers, the business and corporate headquarters of scores of companies apart from the residences of rich and famous.

"In an islanding scheme, a unit catering to south Mumbai segregates itself and hence draws power directly from a generating station rather than from the western grid. This ensures that power supply to this target group of consumers is not disrupted. In case of a grid failure Tata Power Islanding scheme isolates Tata Power system from Maharasthra State Electricity Board (MSEB) and Reliance Infrastructure," said a senior power department official.

"We have requested the Centre to to undertake a feasibility study for having such an arrangement for Delhi," said a senior power department official.