9 minute blackout call: No disruption in power grid

NEW DELHI: A nine-minute lights-out event on Sunday evening went off well without any disruption in the electricity grid after the government and utilities put in place elaborate plans to deal with the sudden drop and then a quick spurt in demand.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urged people to switch off the lights at their homes and light up lamps, candles or mobile phone torches for nine minutes at 9 pm on Sunday to display the country's "collective resolve" to defeat Coronavirus.

Power Minster R K Singh told the mews agency, "The power supply ramp down and ramp up - they (officials) handled very smoothly, and I along with my senior officials -- power secretary, POSCO CMD -- were personally monitoring the situation from National Monitoring Centre in the ministry. I congratulate all the engineers of NLDC, RLDC and SLDCS for handling the situation very efficiently especially in huge response to the Prime Minister's call". The power consumption went down from 117GW to 85.30GW within the spin of around four minutes leading up to 9PM. That means this was much more than anticipated fall of 12GW, the minister said.

The ramp up was very smooth at around 110 GW after the dip in demand during light-out, he said, adding that no incident of any power failure reported. He also lauded power gencos NTPC and NHPC for rising up to the occasion. Also, there was good contribution from Hydro power sector, Singh added.

There were apprehensions about adverse affect on the electricity grid due to the blackout among the people which were dispelled by the Ministry of Power on Saturday saying these are misplaced.