Power demand dips 27% but grid holds up
NEW DELHI: Power demand slumped 27% from 117 giga watt (gw) to 85 gw within about five minutes after 9 pm on Sunday as people switched off their home lights and lit up diyas (traditional earthen lamps) in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s lights-out call to show solidarity in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
National grid operator POSOCO and PowerGrid, the central utility that builds the national network, kept a hawk’s eye on the situation throughout the day, maintaining the northern region grid frequency at the ideal level of 50 Hz for the better part.
The robust protocol set by POSOCO to ensure grid stability kicked in about half an hour before zero hour under the hawk eye of power minister R K Singh and power secretary S N Sahai, who had stationed themselves at the National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC). The grid frequency was allowed to drop below 50 Hz about 15 minutes before 9 pm and then a tad below 49 Hz as generation was gradually ramped down. The lower frequency gave the headroom for generation units to gradually reduce output.
