Switch off only lights, not gadgets: Centre
Oppn fears grid may trip; Power ministry allays fears
On Saturday, soon after Opposition parties raised the spectre of the collapse of the national power grid and a blackout owing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to switch off all lights for 9 minutes at 9 pm on Sunday, the Union power ministry clarified that citizens are supposed to switch off only lights and not other power utilities like fans, computers, air-conditioners.
Mr Modi had in a video message earlier this week asked people across India to switch off their lights and hold candles, lamps or mobile flashlights at 9 pm on Sunday for 9 minutes in a show of solidarity to fight the “darkness of coronavirus”.
A day after his appeal, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that as somebody who has been associated with the power sector for almost three decades, including as minister, the call to go dark for 9 minutes can have a deep impact on the grid and its stability. CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram
Yechury asked the Prime Minister to ensure that the national power transmission grid is not adversely affected by switching off lights on April 5.
“This can play havoc with the provision of health services vital to combat this pandemic. If the grid trips, India will have to face consequences of no electricity and no ability to fight the epidemic till power is restored. This is a risk that the country, reeling under the current lockdown and the Covid-19 epidemic, cannot, and must not, take,” he tweeted.
“Some apprehensions have been expressed that the Prime Minister’s appeal may cause instability in the grid and fluctuation in voltage which may harm electrical appliances. These apprehensions are misplaced,” the power ministry said in a statement.
Allaying fears of voltage fluctuation on Sunday, the statement said, “The appeal of the Prime Minister is to simply switch off the lights in homes from 9 pm to 9.09 pm… There is no call to switch off either street lights or appliances like computers, TVs, fans, refrigerators and ACs in homes… Lights in hospitals and all other essential services like public utilities, municipal services, offices, police stations, manufacturing facilities will remain on… All local bodies have been advised to keep streetlights on for public safety.”
“The Indian electricity grid is robust and stable and adequate arrangements and protocols are in place to handle the variation in demand,” it added.
Meanwhile, the State Load Dispatch Centre of Uttar Pradesh has written to state utilities to take a series of steps to deal with the possibility of a sudden drop in power demand.
The SLDC in its letter asked the utilities to keep all the reactors of state grid in service while keeping capacitor banks inoperational.
The letter states these instructions have been given in view of the call by the Prime Minister to switch off lights at 9 pm for nine minutes.
The SLDC has also asked them to start load shedding from 8 pm to 9 pm on Sunday in a staggered manner.
Similar instructions have been given by the Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation in a letter to its operational executives, saying that availability of sufficient staff should be ensured in view of the call given by the Prime Minister. The corporation also asked them to adhere to SLDC directions.
Meanwhile, an official on the condition of anonymity said power demand may fall by 10 GW to 12 GW during the blackout, which will have no bearing on stability of the national power grid.
The country had gone through a grid failure in 2012 due to technical reasons.