Gusty winds, rain cause outages across state

Ranchi: A sudden storm that lashed Ranchi and other areas of Jharkhand at about 1.45 pm on Friday and continued over the next hour resulted in widespread breakdown of electrical installations and power outages in the city and across the state.Power officials manning the state load despatch centre (SLDC) here told TOI that the power demand in the state averaged around 1600 MW, which was fully met by the state-run Tenughat Vidyut Nigam Ltd., central gencos like DVC, NTPC, central pool and other sources.“However, as rain and gusty winds lashed Ranchi and other districts of Jharkhand at about 1.45 pm and continued for the next hour, there was a sharp decline in the demand. The power distribution networks also broke down in several districts as trees and branches uprooted by the storm landed on overhead power distribution lines, resulting in widespread outages. The storm and the breakdown of the distribution networks brought down the total power demand to 1050 MW, leaving Jharkhand with a surplus power of around 600 MW, more than it could use,” an SLDC official said.By late afternoon as the storm subsided and faults in the networks were being rectified, the demand slowly inched back to normal, he said, adding, “The entire power demand of 1600 MW in Jharkhand is now being fully met. There is no shortage of power in the state.”Meanwhile, a tree, uprooted by high-speed winds Hinoo here landed on a car parked nearby, crushing it under its heavy weight. Though no one was injured, the uprooted tree blocked the busy Hinoo Road for more than an hour. Another tree fell on overhead power distribution lines near the busy Rajendra Chowk, causing outages in the entire Doranda area.At the Jora Talab area of Bariatu in Ranchi, a tent which was set up on the terrace of a house, was uprooted by the gale and landed on overhead power lines, causing outages in the entire area. At Rani Bagan, near the Hari Om Heritage Tower, power supplies were hastily cut off after tree branches on the nearby overhead power lines. Elsewhere, the high-speed winds and the accompanying heavy rain damaged power jumpers and other electrical installations, causing widespread outages."A one hour of high-speed winds and accompanying heavy showers left behind a trail of destruction. Our power engineers were put on high alert as soon as we received the weather alerts in the morning. Monitoring and inspection of power lines are in full swing to ensure normalcy. As soon as the weather becomes better, power supplies to all areas of Ranchi have been restored,” P.K.Srivastava, the general manager of Jharkhand Bijli Vitaran Nigam Ltd, Ranchi, told TOI.