After being delayed by nearly four months, Delhi Transco’s ambitious Islanding Plan announced in October 2012, is expected to be completed by end of May. However, rather than islanding whole of the national Capital, the scheme will ensure power supplies for essential services like the Metro rail and VVIP areas.
The plan, which was initiated to prevent disruptions in power supply during grid disturbances, now seems to have narrowed down its focus only on a few areas.
The project which is being set up at the cost of Rs 25 crore is said to have a capacity to manage 3,400 MW. “Our plan was to make the entire city insulated in case of grid failure. But, due to non-availability of power within the city, essential services will continue to get power at the time of a grid failure. Power Grid has assured us that the project is on the verge of completion and that it would be ready to be implemented by next month,” said an official of the Power Department adding that currently Mumbai and Kolkata already have islanding schemes.
Meanwhile, with the increasing demand of power in the Capital as the temperature has started rising, the Government has directed the power department along with distribution companies to ensure adequate power. “Peak summers have not yet arrived and load-shedding has already started. In States like Uttar Pradesh and Haryana this is most visible. Moreover, inter-State power conflicts are only worsening the situation with States having the tendency of overdrawing electricity from other States. To curb this, demand management is very essential and islanding is a step forward toward achieving it,” informed a senior Power Department official.
Explaining the requirement of an islanding system, he added, “During the grid disturbances when the system frequency starts falling, cascade tripping of generating units and transmission lines begin to occur leading to collapse of the entire grid. In such a case, the Island Plan will not disrupt those areas where they have been fixed.”
The power department has identified four such ‘islands’ namely, Dadri-Jhajjhar-Pragati Island, Bawana CCGT Island, BTPS-Pragati Island and the Rithala CCGT Island. According to sources, these islands will be capable of meeting the required load during peak conditions.
Prepared against the backdrop of the massive Northern Grid failure that occurred in July last year, the Isolation Plan once started will be able to meet at least emergency loads of essential services in the city including the Metro rail, water treatment plants, hospitals, airports, railways and VVIP areas even if the grid trips.