Renni Abraham 

MUMBAI: After a lull of a fortnight, the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) was at it again — overdrawing power from the central inter-state grid, resulting in repeated tripping of power in Maharashtra. The state power department took up the issue with the Central Electricity Authority late last week after the state witnessed several blackouts due to UPPCL overdrawing power.

The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) had already imposed a record penalty of Rs767 crore upon UPPCL for overdrawing power between September 2007 and April 2008, even threatening to physically cut off the state from being able to draw power from the grid.

Principal secretary (power) Rahul Asthana confirmed that a meeting on the issue was held three days back. “We last met in September 2007 on the issue. While the initial part of April witnessed nil under-frequency relays, there were frequent power trips in the latter part of the month causing blackouts in 1/5 of Maharashtra, even 20 times in a single day,” he added.

Asthana said, “Tripping occurs when the frequency is not maintained around the 49.2 kHz level and either dips below this level owing to overdrawing of power or rises above the 50 kHz level owing to additional power becoming available on the grid.”

Like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Goa also suffer blackouts, being connected to the central grid that services the western region of the country.

Asthana added, “Pleasant climatic conditions in March and the initial part of April may have been the reason why UPPCL did not overdraw power from the grid. Immediately thereafter, the situation has gone back to constant trippings, which is in direct proportion to the heat wave situation in Uttar Pradesh.”

For Maharashtra, however, even the power shortage being brought down to around 4,000 MW as compared to around 5,400 MW during the corresponding period last year, has not shown tangible results due to constant blackouts.

Source : DNAIndia