PM Modi’s 5 April Call: No Threat To Grid Stability From 9-Minutes Blackout, Assure Power Officials

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appealed the citizens of the country to observe a 9-minute blackout at 9 pm on Sunday (5 April) and come out in balconies to light a lamp, candle or shine a mobile flashlight to dispel the darkness spread by the coronavirus.

This call has created a fear of ‘grid shutdown’ among people, however as per power officials it is highly unlikely as India’s power grid is ready to deal with demand fluctuation and prevent tripping during the event, reports Times of India.

The report quotes officials involved in grid management as saying that as the lights-out is pre-planned, preventive steps will be taken to save the transmission from tripping.

"Union Power Minister has discussed the issue (sudden fall in demand during April 5 blackout) with PGCIL (PowerGrid) and Load dispatcher in today's meeting. They are upto the task and are confident of managing the grid stability for the event," said a government spokesperson.

Additionally, the lights-out is expected to shed 15 GW (giga watt) demand, or less than 4 per cent of the country’s total installed capacity.

Another official said, "Actually considering the need of pan India lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic, Peak Demand in the country is already lower by about 20 per cent. So, the national and regional load dispatch centres are already grappling with low demand a further drop on 5 April, should not be a problem that can't be handled with ease.”

It should be noted that as per power ministry data, on 2 April 2020, the maximum power demand met in the country stood at 1,25,817 ME, almost 20 per cent lower than 2 April 2019 figure of 1,68,326 MW.

This decline roughly translates to around 43 GW demand reduction as compared to last year. However, a closer look at the data shows that the peak power demand met has stabilised around 120 GW after 22 March.

According to the data from The Hindu report, the peak demand met was 163.72 GW on 20 March 20, which came down to 161.74 GW on 21 March. This dropped by around 26,000 MW to 135.20 GW on 22 March due a call for ‘Janata Curfew’ by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

That’s a difference of 26,000 MW which was handled successfully over a 24-hour period, a senior official in Ministry of Power, who did not wish to be named, told Mint.

Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO), a wholly owned Government of India Enterprise, and entrusted with the task of ensuring the integrated operation of the Grid in a reliable, efficient, and secure manner, has also been sounded off to plan scheduling of power with all the five Regional Load Despatch Centres and National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC) so that grid frequency is maintained even if demand drops suddenly during the blackout.

Sources said that state government have also been told to be ready to manage the power scheduling if a need arise and keep some of their generating units in ready mode to switch off few units of grid frequency dropped suddenly. Central utilities like NTPC may also be keep in a state of readiness to switch off some of their gas based stations are easy to switch on and off as per grid requirements.

(With IANS Inputs)