Sunday power outage in Mumbai ignites blame game

Maharashtra power transmission company has alleged that Tata Power could have averted an outage on Sunday by mitigating the shortage based on an early warning an allegation denied by the private firm TATA Power Company Ltd told midday the information about increasing the capacity came late at 930 amThe Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Ltd MSETCL said Tata Power failed to promptly increase power generation to mitigate shortage caused by the tripping of MSETCL lines that bring supply from outside despite early warning by the Maharashtra State Load Despatch Centre MSLDC which is part of the state transmission firmTerming the allegation baseless Tata Power said there was no delay in ramping up generation when told about the grid collapse It added that the state firm didnrsquot use a mechanism that gets activated in just 15 seconds to inform generation companies to ramp up their production in an emergency such as thisA staffer checks the medicine stock manually instead of on the computer due to the power cut at a medical shop on Sunday PicBipin KokateThe MSETCLrsquos observation is part of its media statement and a preliminary report it submitted to the Energy Department The state government has ordered an inquiry into the outage that happened on Sunday morning It affected the entire island city parts of eastern and western suburbs The supply was restored in 70 minutesCiting reasons the MSETCL said the 220 kV SonkharTrombay and ChemburTrombay lines were shut from February 4 and 5 for Metro 2B work Besides the SalsetteTrombay1 line with 220 kV capacity was shut from 11 pm on February 26 Due to these changes the NerulChembur and SonkharTrombay power lines were connected and to separate them the power supply was shut on Sunday February 27 from 7 am Around 844 am the MulundTrombay line tripped because of a technical snag it addedThe MSLDC asked Tata Thermal Power and Tata Hydro Electricity Power Company to increase their capacity around 900 am but Tata Powerrsquos generation centre demanded an email in order to increase its capacity the MSETCL said ldquoHad Tata Power increased power generation with immediate effect this situation would have been avertedrdquo said MSETCLProblems compounded when at 0949 am a fire broke out on the premises of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre As a result the 220 kVcapacity KalvaTrombay line tripped because of some technical problem which in turn affected the TrombaySalsette grid the statement said The TrombaySalsette line was affected because of this Due to overload the lines tripped and the electricity generation set also stopped working This resulted in a technical problem and the power supply in south Mumbai Colaba Mahalaxmi and Dadar was affected it addedInformed at 930 am Tata PowerTata Power in a statement to midday on Tuesday said the first information came to them at 930 am not at 9 am as claimed by the MSETCL adding that the allegations are completely unfoundedldquoUnder the new DSM Deviation Settlement Mechanism regime MSLDC has the provision to enter into the system the additional generation required at any time vide a mechanism known as VSE Virtual State Entity which takes only 15 seconds to activate According to phone recordings available at both ends and witnessed by senior officials present at Trombay the first communication from MSLDC to pick up generation happened at 0930 hours We acted quickly to address the situation that had arisen as a result of MSETCL Grid trippingrdquo said a Tata Power spokespersonTata Power President transmission and distribution Sanjay Banga said a detailed investigation of this outage is underway ldquoWe are coordinating with all agencies including the MSLDC to find out the exact reason and see how we can avoid such incidents in the futurerdquo he said adding that his team restored the power supply within one hour stepped up hydro generation to full capacity and avoided a much larger damage