Power cuts, stretching up to three hours, returned to haunt residents of many areas of South and Central Delhi on Thursday owing to a major snag that led to a shortfall of up to 1,300 MW in the afternoon when electricity demand usually touches its daily peak.
Delhi Power Minister Satyender Jain said that supply was affected as power generation units at the Badarpur Thermal Power Station (BTPS) and the Pragati Power Plant tripped after a current transformer of the 220kV Samaypur -Palwal line blasted.
A Delhi Transco limited official said that there was major supply failure at 220KV stations namely Sarita Vihar, Park Street, Okhla, Vasant Kunj and Mehrauli. Supply got crippled around 2.30 pm when the city’s peak power load was around 5,800 MW, authorities said. The system was “fully normalized” by 5.30 pm, State-run Delhi Transco said.
“As per preliminary information, the fault initiated at 220KV Samaypur Station of Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) where 220KV Current Transformer (CT) of 220KV line (namely Samaypur-Palwal) blasted. This followed in tripping of two units of Badarpur Thermal Power Station (210 MW each) and one unit of Pragati along with Steam Turbine Generator (200 MW approximately),” the official added.
This resulted in loss of generation and imports of power around 804 MW. Prior to the incident of fault, Delhi was having a load of 5,809 MW.
“By 4.30 pm, barring 200 MW load, all other load were restored. The system was fully normalised by 5.30 pm,” the official added.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Government said the NTPC-run Badarpur plant was operating below capacity since May 1.
“Badarpur power plant was closed for two hours on May 1, for 21 hours on May 10. One of its units remained completely dysfunctional between May 11 and May 21. It was again closed between June 3 and June 6. It affected power supply in south and east Delhi,” Jain said.
The thermal power plant, which is coal-based, was identified as a major polluter by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) last year and was served an immediate closure notice, although later a 210 MW unit was given permission to operate, while four others were shut down.