​​Shutdown of power generation units disrupts UP power grid

Lucknow: A major power disruption hit the state after nine power generation units with a combined capacity of 4,302 MW were shut down during the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, triggering outages in several districts.According to the Uttar Pradesh State Load Dispatch Centre Ltd (UPSLDCL), the shutdowns occurred across thermal power stations at Rosa, Ghatampur and Jawaharpur due to a series of technical failures.The outage report revealed that all four units of 300 MW each at Rosa thermal power plant tripped simultaneously at 9.57 pm on May 25 because of a blackout condition. While the units were restored between early morning and forenoon on Tuesday, the sudden outage impacted power availability in the state grid.At Ghatampur thermal power plant, Unit 1 of 660 MW shut down due to a technical problem (turbine vibration protection), while another 660 MW unit remained out between Sunday night and Tuesday night because of a “technical emergency at the turbine side”.Jawaharpur thermal power plant also witnessed repeated disruptions due to technical reasons.The cascading shutdowns caused power outages across multiple regions, forcing authorities to undertake emergency load management measures to stabilise the grid.Most generation units were revived by Tuesday morning, but three units continued to remain shut as of Wednesday and are expected to be restored only by May 30 or 31.The latest outage report on Wednesday showed that four generation units with a combined capacity of 2,091 MW remained non-operational. These included Anpara Unit 2 of 210 MW, Ghatampur Unit 2 of 660 MW and Jawaharpur Unit 2 of 660 MW, besides another temporary outage at Jawaharpur Unit 1 of 660 MW, which was restored on Wednesday morning.UPSLDCL data showed Uttar Pradesh registered a maximum demand of 30,853 MW on May 25, while demand on May 26 fell to 28,125 MW. The state had recorded the month’s highest demand of 31,824 MW on May 24.Responding to TOI query on power generation unit shutdown, UPPCL chairman Ashish Kumar Goel said most of the affected generation units were not owned by the state govt or UPPCL. “Apart from Jawaharpur, the other thermal stations are operated by private companies or central utilities,” he said.He said tripping of thermal units was normal occurrence because thermal plants were highly complex systems, where even a minor deviation from operating parameters could trigger an automatic shutdown as a safety measure.On Jawaharpur’s extended outage, where Units 2 is reportedly expected to remain shut till May 31, Goel said restoration of a thermal unit could sometimes take one or two days depending on the technical issue.He maintained that the overall power supply would remain stable.Responding to questions about whether the sharp fall in peak demand from 30,853 MW to 28,125 MW was linked to forced load curtailment, Goel claimed that demand itself had declined due to multiple weather-related factors.He said around 8-9% of substations were affected during the storm, leading to a corresponding reduction in demand. “Power demand patterns cannot be viewed in black and white because each day is different,” he said.Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Upbhokta Parishad chairman and Central Advisory Committee member Avadhesh Kumar Verma said Uttar Pradesh was lagging in installed power generation capacity.“Uttar Pradesh has around 3.73 crore electricity consumers, the highest in India, yet it ranks fifth among top power producing states,” he said.Till April 30, 2026, Gujarat topped the list with 73,627.91 MW installed capacity, followed by Rajasthan (61,381.28 MW), Maharashtra (59,979.65 MW), Tamil Nadu (47,989.37 MW), and Uttar Pradesh (39,034.67 MW). India’s total installed capacity stands at 5,37,264.41 MW.