Power up, government, summer isn't here yet

A spate of power disruptions began on Monday after various problems surfaced at the state's power plants, severely impacting businesses and hospitals across the city. UPCL, which provides 28% of the state's electricity has been functioning at half capacity after its second unit developed a problem. The Raichur plant resuming operations has easd the situation, although it is clear that Karnataka is nowhere near ready to face a crisis. It's time for better contingency plans that keep citizens informed in advance, says Nikhil Gangadhar.

Life only seems to be getting harder for Bengalureans. Besides putting up with the garbage on the streets and potholes on their roads, they are now  having to put up with sudden interruptions in power supply not just for an hour or two , but a whole day and more.

While the city  is no stranger to power cuts,  it has come to expect them more in summer and certainly not when it has received one of its heaviest downpours and is heading for winter. Not surprisingly , most were  taken aback by the  disruption in power supply that began Monday noon and continued well into Tuesday evening with no prior warning.

An apologetic Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom)  explained later that the unscheduled and intermittent power cuts were the result of various problems at the state's power plants.  It said the city had suffered a shortfall to 1500 MW of power as the Ballari Thermal Power Station (BTPS)  was shut down following a leakage and a technical snag at the Udupi Power Corporation Limited (UPCL). Some officials also blamed a shortage of coal for the short supply, but this was of little comfort to the people, who had to put up with the inconvenience caused for a day and more.

Those with medical emergencies had it especially tough.  Take Ms Rukmini Rao, of CV Raman Nagar, who was forced to rush her husband to a nearby private hospital for his dialysis in the absence of power at home. “The power kept playing hide and seek and repeated calls to Bescom went unanswered. From Monday morning the power went on and off over a dozen times until Tuesday evening. I had to do dialysis for my husband , but with the power supply being so erratic I had to take him to a nearby private clinic, which had a generator to do it,” she recounted.

Besides domestic consumers, the power cuts took a toll on industries and manufacturing units , both small and big.  Mr Mohammed Taqiq, who owns a card board manufacturing unit near KR Puram, was expectedly upset by the frequent interruptions in his production.  

Said he,  “Bescom should keep us informed about such cuts to prepare us for such  situations. In the absence of any warning either in the newspapers or television channels, we were taken by surprise for two days. We did not have power every two hours, for over 40 minutes.  Our manufacturing rate dropped and  we will have to make up for it by making our staff work overtime other days.”

Mr Taqiq was also concerned about the damage his equipment could suffer due to such frequent power interruptions. “The power fluctuation could spoil our machinery. We can operate the machines either with regular power supply or with  the help of a generator, but we cannot keep switching between both frequently,” he lamented.

Confronted with angry consumers, Bescom officials assured the problem would be resolved by Wednesday. And the government promised  to buy 500 MW of power from the market and 1,300 MW from the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), to feed into the system.

Tap solar energy, say city experts
Some urban experts believe the government and Bescom should learn a lesson from the recent power crisis and consider  tapping solar energy more both for the needs of the city and the state as a whole.

Laments one such expert, Ashwin Mahesh, “We are still depending on the old system where power is generated at one place and transmitted to another when the world is metamorphosing every day with new innovations and developments. We should be thinking of alternative sources of power like solar energy, which is abundant. When various other countries are going in for green energy, why are we not doing so in a bigger way?  Bengaluru definitely has the scope and equipment to tap solar energy.”

Mr Mahesh recalls that a few years ago the Karnataka Electric city Regulatory Commission (KERC) had, in fact, asked the government and Bescom to begin generating solar energy on a bigger scale.

“But they have not made much of an effort on this front. We need to take aggressive steps to ensure that  roof-top solar panels are installed in major institutions, organisations, buildings and homes. Instead of spending on  power plants  the government could use the same money to create awareness about the uses of solar energy,” he suggests.

In his view, even installing solar panels generating 2  to 5 or 8 megawatts of power will be quite enough to prevent a power crisis and avoid panic among people and industrialists.  “Generating our own energy will help in managing  power better and do away with the losses in transmission. The current shortages are mainly due to snags  in the power production units. Solar power can come to a rescue in such situations,” he stresses. Contending that it is  time for a change in attitude and the government needs to start brainstorming on decentralising power production, he believes this is the long term solution for the city’s power troubles. 

Raichur plant problem solved in 24 hours
The power shut-down of the last couple of days in many parts of the state is likely to ease from Wednesday with two units of the Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS) resuming operation.

While seven units of the plant  are now generating power, one unit remains shut down for annual repair and maintenance. When contacted, executive director of RTPS, Venugopal explained that two units  tripped without warning at around 3.30 pm Monday, and had to be shut down, affecting the generation of around 400 MW.
 
“But we attended to the problem on a war-footing and resumed generation within 24 hours. Now both  units are operational once again. In all, seven units are generating around 26 to 28 million units of power every day,” he added.

About the coal situation at RTPS, Mr Venugopal  said  the shortage was being experienced all over the country. “At RTPS we are getting five rakes of coal as against our daily requirement of seven. The shortage is made up from the available stock in our yard,” he added.

The officer also blamed the power crisis on  wind power production coming to a halt. “We were getting 1500 to 1600 MW of wind power, but that has stopped now. Added to this was the tripping of the two units at RTPS and one unit each at Udupi and  Ballari power stations. Things are expected to return to  normal from today,” he assured.

Disruption a wake-up call to authorities, time for better contingency plan: M G Prabhakar, member , advisory committee, Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC)
Power plays an important role in everyone’s lives. These days almost everything operates and runs on power and without it the system would come to a standstill. If I recall it was said the state would become surplus in power by December this year, but there is no sign of it although it is already November.

There may be  technical problems at the power plants, but what about the measures taken to avoid such situations?  When Bengaluru is known globally for its rapid development, such a situation is unfortunate. More stringent and effective measures need be taken  to combat power shortages, as otherwise there could be tough times ahead for both the industrialist and the common man.

The recent power disruption is a wake -up call to the government and the authorities concerned. It calls for a better contingency plan, and managing  power more efficiently and effectively. I believe a  committee should be established to review the power supply  frequently as this would  help with maintenance of the plants. Any technical snag they develop should be resolved immediately in the interest of  common people and industries.

The KERC should be informed before any load shedding or power disruption, as it could help in studying the situation and  come up with technical ideas to resolve it at the earliest. Short term power purchase is also an option.

There could be more such situations in the future and technical advisories will play a major role during such times. Meanwhile, the public should be informed well in advance  about the load shedding or any disruption in power as it has a right to know.