JOIN USCity to be immune to grid failures by next summer
Chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Wednesday announced formulation of ‘Islanding Scheme’ that will make Delhi immune from power failures during grid disturbances.
As per Dikshit, the scheme, costing about Rs 25 crores, will get operational by January 2013. The proposed islanding scheme envisages that when a grid disturbance occurs, four islands of Delhi’s power system will be created which are sufficient to meet essential loads required for the uninterrupted functioning of Delhi Metro, water treatment plants, Indian Railways, hospitals and other critical areas.
After two major grid disturbances in July that led to power failure for several hours in north India — including Delhi — the city government had demanded the islanding of Delhi on the lines of Mumbai and Kolkata.
The scheme thus formulated, in consultation with Central Electricity Authority (CEA), experts from IIT, Delhi Transco Limited, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and other agencies, kept in view the complexity of Delhi power network and created some additional features such as development of intelligent system for centralised decision making, maintaining dual source of supply to essential loads.
“There is a dire need to provide uninterrupted power supply in Delhi as it is home to the Union Government, all important installations, embassies and all agencies providing essential services,” said Dikshit.
“We had demanded Islanding on the lines of Islanding facilities in Mumbai and requested the Union power ministry to assist us in the scheme,” she said.
“After due consultations with all concerned, we have agreed to put in place a better Islanding technology which would also be upgraded phase-wise,” said Dikshit, while announcing the development in presence of Union power minister Veerappa Moily.
Explaining the technicalities of scheme, A S Bakshi, Chairman, CEA said that proposed islanding scheme envisages fall of frequency to 47.9 Hz (the normal frequency for electricity transmission) which will be taken as an indicator to initiate the islanding facility.
“Four islands of Delhi's power system, viz, Dadri-Jajjhar-Pragati, Bawana CCGT, BTPS-Pragati and Rithala CCGT, which together would generate 4,200 MW (of electricity) and would be capable of meeting about 3,400 MW of load during the peak conditions,” said Bakshi adding that SLDC (State Load Dispatch Centre) will have overall responsibility of operation.
According to Moily, UP, J&K and Haryana governments are also working on islanding schemes.