Power cuts: Rain or shine, excuses always on hand
PANAJI: Even as summer showers have brought some relief to the state, its power woes continue.
Several parts of the state suffered power outages for long hours on Thursday evening including the tourist belt of Candolim-Calangute-Arpora, Porvorim, Socorro, Ucassaim and Margao.
With the humid weather letting up, domestic consumption of power has come down over the past two days.
"This has taken some pressure off the overburdened state power supply that has been reeling under a 130MW shortage over the past fortnight. The state is also forced to forgo the 16MW supply from Reliance power plant in Sancoale.
"For the past five days, Reliance has also become a consumer, purchasing around 12 MW from the government," said an electricity department engineer.
The new villain, however, seems to be 'lightning and cyclonic winds' that on Wednesday and Thursday revealed the state's lack of preparation for the monsoons.
Residents across Goa endured power failures through the wee hours of Thursday, with those living in Sattari and Pernem talukas worst affected. "There were cyclonic winds in Sattari last night and 10 posts were damaged. In several places, trees have fallen on overhead power cables and there were power failures. The damage is being fixed and power will be restored shortly," said an engineer on Thursday evening, after some residents had gone without power for over 10 hours.
Strangely enough, even South Goa localities, where a large part of the power cables have been laid underground, experienced frequent blackouts. "Ahead of the rainy season, it is imperative that the electricity department employ good quality protective measures to prevent power outages. A common cause for power failure is due to lightning, and if the department has not installed (or replaced in time) hardy circuit-breakers to prevent power surges, then they tend to shutdown the supply at the first sign of thundershowers, to protect consumers from the voltage surge," explains professor R Gad of Goa University's electricity department. There is an urgent need for good quality lightning arresters to be installed on tall buildings, as they will help contain power surges and transformer damage by earthing the high voltage from the lightning, he adds.
The electricity department official said that engineers across Goa had been tasked with installing lightning rods, and work was on. Cheesed off with the scheduled power cuts and unprecedented power failures, residents across Goa have swamped the electricity department helpline (135) with complaint calls. The scheduled power cuts during peak consumption hours are unavoidable if pre-monsoon maintenance is to be carried out, points out power secretary S K Srivastava. "Shortage of power still persists, as one unit of the thermal power plant in Korba, MP, has been shutdown. We have tried to compensate by purchasing power from Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd (VVNL) and Tata Power," he explained.
"In areas, where we have scheduled full day power cuts, we have instructed PWD to supply extra water on the days before and after the power cut. Residents have been informed in advance," he added.
Several parts of the state suffered power outages for long hours on Thursday evening including the tourist belt of Candolim-Calangute-Arpora, Porvorim, Socorro, Ucassaim and Margao.
With the humid weather letting up, domestic consumption of power has come down over the past two days.
"This has taken some pressure off the overburdened state power supply that has been reeling under a 130MW shortage over the past fortnight. The state is also forced to forgo the 16MW supply from Reliance power plant in Sancoale.
"For the past five days, Reliance has also become a consumer, purchasing around 12 MW from the government," said an electricity department engineer.
The new villain, however, seems to be 'lightning and cyclonic winds' that on Wednesday and Thursday revealed the state's lack of preparation for the monsoons.
Residents across Goa endured power failures through the wee hours of Thursday, with those living in Sattari and Pernem talukas worst affected. "There were cyclonic winds in Sattari last night and 10 posts were damaged. In several places, trees have fallen on overhead power cables and there were power failures. The damage is being fixed and power will be restored shortly," said an engineer on Thursday evening, after some residents had gone without power for over 10 hours.
Strangely enough, even South Goa localities, where a large part of the power cables have been laid underground, experienced frequent blackouts. "Ahead of the rainy season, it is imperative that the electricity department employ good quality protective measures to prevent power outages. A common cause for power failure is due to lightning, and if the department has not installed (or replaced in time) hardy circuit-breakers to prevent power surges, then they tend to shutdown the supply at the first sign of thundershowers, to protect consumers from the voltage surge," explains professor R Gad of Goa University's electricity department. There is an urgent need for good quality lightning arresters to be installed on tall buildings, as they will help contain power surges and transformer damage by earthing the high voltage from the lightning, he adds.
The electricity department official said that engineers across Goa had been tasked with installing lightning rods, and work was on. Cheesed off with the scheduled power cuts and unprecedented power failures, residents across Goa have swamped the electricity department helpline (135) with complaint calls. The scheduled power cuts during peak consumption hours are unavoidable if pre-monsoon maintenance is to be carried out, points out power secretary S K Srivastava. "Shortage of power still persists, as one unit of the thermal power plant in Korba, MP, has been shutdown. We have tried to compensate by purchasing power from Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd (VVNL) and Tata Power," he explained.
"In areas, where we have scheduled full day power cuts, we have instructed PWD to supply extra water on the days before and after the power cut. Residents have been informed in advance," he added.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Power-cuts-Rain-or-shine-excuses-always-on-hand/articleshow/34846466.cms
No comments:
Post a Comment