Power outage exposes lapses in city transmission network
A one-member panel to submit report by weekend on Feb 27 power failure
The power outage on Tuesday was the third major one in the city, after breakdowns on February 27, 2022 and October 12, 2020. It has exposed lapses in MahaTransco’s transmission network and also a lackadaisical approach in upkeep and maintenance.
It has also laid bare transmission constraints in the evacuation of power in Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region as a slew of projects need to be fast-tracked. Tuesday’s outage occurred when the city’s power demand shot up to nearly 3,900 MW, while the state’s demand crossed 28,000 MW.
A MahaTransco officer told the Free Press Journal, "The detailed report will be submitted to the government and other authorities soon. However, a preliminary report claims that the outage was caused due to the tripping of all 400 kV transmission lines because of an isolator problem after sparking observed on the pantograph isolator."
Incidentally, a one-member fact finding panel headed by MahaTransco executive director RE Mhaske is expected to submit its report to the state government by weekend on the major power failure reported on February 27. A state energy department officer told the Free Press Journal, "The panel has clearly pointed out that Tata Power did not follow the instructions given by the State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC) to Tata Power Thermal and Tata Hydro Generation stations to increase the production capacity. The power in south Mumbai (Colaba, Mahalakshmi and Dadar) area was disrupted as a result of which the power plant was shut down due to additional load on Trombay Power Station. The panel observed that Tata Power should have strictly followed the SLDC’s instructions that would prove crucial."
Further, the panel has made a strong case for a review of Mumbai islanding system in view of rising power load. The panel has also suggested that there should be an increase in Mumbai’s embedded generation which has not been done in the last many years.
Moreover, the panel has emphasised the need to give top priority on the strengthening of transmission and its upgradation to avoid tripping leading to power outages in future.