Union Power Ministry gave its Nod to Implement Islanding Scheme in Delhi

The Union Power Minister Veerapa Moily on 17 October 2012 announced the implementation of Islanding Scheme for Delhi by January 2013 to protect it from massive disruptions caused due to grid failures in power supply. The scheme of Delhi is different to that of the existing ones in cities like Mumbai and Kolkata because the transmission lines of different states is routed through Delhi.

This scheme is being implemented as a solution against the problems like the massive blackout that occurred in July 2012 after the failure of Northern Grid, affecting the power supplies of different states including Delhi. Implementation of this scheme would help in assuring an unaffected flow of electricity to the VVIP areas, Indian Railways, airport, hospitals, Metro Rail, water treatment plants and other essential places during the issues of Northern Grid failure. These facilities overall requires 930 MW of power for being operational.

To control the power supplies, the Delhi Government would implement the islanding facilities within next three months. The move aims towards prevention of electric supply disruptions under situations of grid disturbances or failures.

This project is being developed at an investment of 25 Crore Rupees and will have a capacity of 3400 mega watt. Four islands have been shortlisted for providing electricity for this scheme and they include Bawana CCGT (600 MW), BTPS-Pragati (500 MW), Dadri-Jajjhar-Pragati (2315 MW) and Rithala CCGT (20 MW) and Delhi State Load Dispatch Center (SLDC) would be responsible for the operations of the island system being developed.

Working Process of the Project

To make the installation operational the mechanism to be followed includes disconnecting Delhi from the national grid at times of disturbances to secure the state against power failures. After disconnecting, the power generated within the state will be supplied for meeting the demand of electricity within the state.