Moily submits plan to avert power grid collapse

A week after the two successive grid failures, which had affected over 600 million people in the country, Union power minister Veerappa Moily met Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Monday evening and submitted a detailed action plan to avert similar collapses in the future.

A week after the two successive grid failures, which had affected over 600 million people in the country, Union power minister Veerappa Moily met Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Monday evening and submitted a detailed action plan to avert similar collapses in the future.

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Soon after his meeting with chief ministers and power ministers of northern states, Moily briefed the PM on the new grid discipline measures which have been put in place. Following consultations with chief ministers and power ministers of northern states on Monday, a new plan called "islanding scheme for cities" will help prevent disruption of power to all essential and emergency services in the event of any such blackout. While Moily was unavailable for comment, PM's advisor Pankaj Pachauri confirmed that Moily meet the PM on Monday evening.

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In his meeting with the PM, the first after assuming charge as the power minister on June 31, Moily also briefed the PM about the resolutions passed on stricter grid discipline for states, which includes heavy penalties for overdrawing power from the grid.

An islanding system de-links a designated part of the network from the rest of the grid in the event of a major power failure. On how it works, officials explained that frequency sensors are installed which disconnect the designated sector from the grid if the frequency dips below the designated levels that trigger a grid collapse.

For instance, if islanding facility is set up in Delhi then even in case of a technical problem in the Northern Grid, the city will continue to draw power directly from selected power generating stations or dedicated power plants and special censors installed in the transmission system supplying power to Delhi will de-link the city's transmission network with the main grid. The islanding facility is already in operation in parts of Mumbai and Kolkata.

Sources said ever after the last week's successive grid failures that sent half of the country's population into dark, the Prime Minister's Office has been in continuous touch with the power ministry.