Grid discipline is the need of the hour in order to stop further erosion of the country’s power grid stability. This was the view expressed by various experts who took part in a panel discussion on ‘Enabling grid stability, the need of the hour: a mix of policy and technology interventions’, organised by Enzen Global Solutions, on Friday.
“The integration of North and South grids without enforcing discipline will not solve the problems of the country’s power supply. The South Indian states are not saints either,” said Surendra L Rao, former director general, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC). Grid stability was thrown into sharp focus earlier this year with the collapse of the Northern Grid, putting parts of the country in the dark.
Criticising the lackadaisical approach of the Central Government in fixing the blame for the grid collapse, Rao said the responsibility of managing such issues must rest with the Chairman of the Electricity board. “We need accountability. This is lacking in our country,” he said.
B G Rudrappa, former chairman, Karnataka Electricity Board said spinning reserves of hydel power were the best way to maintain grid stability. “Thermal and Nuclear power plants are very rigid, it will not be possible to ramp up production. Hydel power will improve stability,” he said.
He added that a cascading effect was one of the effects of an interconnected grid from which a failure in one section would quickly spread to other grids as well.
Commenting on transmission bottlenecks and he said all government funds for development were being diverted towards newer projects like Smart Grids and SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition), instead of investing in the augmentation of the country’s transmission lines. He said “Even with such a huge unfulfilled demand, power sector has become sick. While people are entering the market, with no financial security and bankrupt energy utilities, the sector is failing.”
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