Power demand plunges but outages on

NEW DELHI: A heavy downpour on Friday evening saw several areas in the city go without power, even as the demand fell by about 1,500MW once it rained. Discoms blamed the situation on the falling trees and branches that affected network cables.
The demand in the afternoon was approximately 4,000 MW but it came down to less than 2,500MW within minutes of the thundershower hitting the capital.According to the state load dispatch centre, the drop in demand was so huge that Delhi government had to stop generation in some plants immediately to avoid a technical fault. "Delhi was generating 1,100MW in the afternoon but some units of the state-owned plant had to be closed to bring down internal generation to about 800MW due to the load crash. Delhi also started under-drawing up to 800MW,'' said a senior official.
Despite this, many areas also complained of power cuts when the rain started. "There was no power in our colony for about 5 hours after it rained. The supply resumed only late in the evening,'' said Aniruddha Ghosh, a resident of C R Park. A resident of Kalkaji added: "The electricity connection flickered for two hours when it was pelting outside. But it wasn't such a problem owing to the pleasant weather outside.''
Discom sources complained that many of their network cables had been affected during the storm due to falling trees. "Many areas faced power cuts lasting from 2-3 hours during the evening. Areas primarily affected were South Ex-II, Lajpat Nagar, Sarvapriya Vihar, Saket, parts of Neb Sarai, Mayur Vihar, Tagore Garden and Janakpuri. We had to deploy extra people to correct the faults,'' said a discom official.
Local faults during heavy rain is a common occurrence. Discoms claim that moisture deposited on transmission lines, leading to disruption in power supply. Delhi government has ordered discoms to ensure no electricity disruptions during monsoon and upgrade their infrastructure accordingly.