Patna, Aug. 1: If there is a grid collapse again, Bihar will meet the same fate as on Tuesday. Reason: The state does not have any alternative arrangement to tide over a crisis of this magnitude.
Bihar was among the 20 and odd states that fell victim to the domino effect of the grid collapse around 1pm yesterday. Chief minister Nitish Kumar was quick to absolve the state of any wrongdoing, but power experts pointed out that while Bihar wasn’t responsible for the blackout, restoration could have been quicker if it had its own generation units.
Jharkhand, which has hydel and thermal units, started power restoration work by 3pm in Ranchi while most of Odisha got back power within three hours. Supply could be restored in Bihar only around 8.30pm. Patna started getting supply only by late night.
“No state has any mechanism to deal with such a situation as all are dependent on grids. That’s why the world’s biggest power outage occurred yesterday,” energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav reasoned today.
When pointed out that restoration work would have been much easier had the state had its own generation plant, Yadav said: “That’s a different issue altogether. Yes, power supply could have been restored one or two hours earlier if the state had its own generation unit. But it would have taken four hours to start the closed power plant.”
A top Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) official, who requested anonymity, said: “We are completely dependent on the central generating unit of NTPC’s Kahalgaon and Farakka plants. We have a fixed share in these units but they have their obligation to other states too.”
A power expert, who too didn’t wish to be named, said that when such a massive grid failure occurs, the plant shuts down automatically as its turbine stops running, but the boiler cools down gradually. “So if a state has its own power plant, it can take start-up power from other sources, like a hydel plant, and generation could be revived within two to three hours,” he said.
But there is no relief in sight for the people of Bihar as it would, going by what BSEB officials say, take at least three years for the state to have its own generating units.
All upcoming power plants — at Nabinagar (1,980MW), Barauni (500MW) and Muzaffarpur (390MW) — are expected to start generation in 2014-15, BSEB spokesman H.R. Pandey said.
Bihar today received 1,272MW, including 250MW which it buys from the open market, from central sector allocation against the scheduled amount of 1,832 MW. The board supplies about 300MW to 350MW to Patna while 350MW is earmarked for essential services.
