OVERDRAWING FROM GRID

Officers of state load dispatch centres to be penalised
Manish Sirhindi/TNS
Ambala, August 23
Adopting a tough stance against the states to restrict power overdrawal from the northern grid, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has ordered penalisation of the officers in charge of state load dispatch centres (SLDCs). The CERC held them responsible for not complying with its directions to observe grid code.
The commission said the officers of “state transmission utilities and SLDCs of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir had failed to comply with repeated notices issued by the Northern Regional Load Dispatch Centre (NRLDC) warning them against overdrawals.”
The commission said the officers concerned could be held responsible for having failed to discharge their duties of maintaining the grid discipline.
The order was passed in connection with a petition moved by the NRLDC before the commission over continued overdrawal by northern states.
During a hearing on August 14, officers of the power utilities of the constituent states had denied overdrawal from the grid. Most of them ascribed overdrawals to outage of generation units, shortage of coal, poor maintenance and the monsoon failure.
The officers said the SLDCs were not independent. These were controlled by the state electricity boards or transmission utilities, which were government companies.
SB Moudgil, Chief Engineer (Power System), Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited (HVPNL), said the HVPNL had to overdraw during the last three months due to the failed monsoon and teething problems of newly established thermal plants, some of which had been hit by non-availability of coal. He also submitted that whenever frequency touched 49.5 Hz, action was initiated to reduce the load.
Meanwhile, the commission has asked its staff to initiate proceedings to penalise the official concerned.