Northern grid came close to tripping Monday: UP officials

Lucknow: The Northern grid came close to snapping Monday but for the timely intervention of Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited, state government officials said. The grid frequency dipped close to 48.8 at around 10.48 am Monday as against the recommended frequency of between 49.7-50.2, Principal Secretary (Power) Anil Kumar Gupta told IANS. When the grid tripped on 31 July, the frequency was 49.7. As officials saw another “black out” awaiting to happen, power in three cities — Agra, Varanasi and Allahabad was snapped immediately for over 40 minutes, officials said. [caption id=“attachment_424266” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] While Gupta refused to say specifically whether the grid came close to another collapse, he admitted that the situation was “very vulnerable.” State officials also claimed that the state was not overdrawing at the moment and at the time when the frequency dipped, Uttar Pradesh was underdrawing 588 MW. Following the “frequency issue”, powermen said three power houses shut down in the central sector leading to a sudden shortfall of 3,000 MW. This apparently saved the grid from another catastrophe, which would have been bigger as Eid-ul-Fitr was being celebrated. Gupta also noted that the state’s self generation had reached 2,350 MW as against an average of 1,600-1,700 MW. IANS