Kamal Sharma, Lokmat News Network (Nagpur)
The city is once again in the grip of a power crisis. However, this time the crisis has arisen not because of shortage of electricity but because of demand reaching record levels. Power supply has to be shut down for 15 minutes to an hour in many areas for load management. However, MSEDCL claims that this is not happening regularly.
On Tuesday night, the electricity demand in the city reached 827 MW. Earlier, the maximum demand of 702 MW was recorded in June 2023. But this year the demand reached 702 MW at the start of summer. On Tuesday, it reached 820 MW. As a result the distribution system became overloaded.
Power transformers are operating at full capacity. MSEDCL's distribution transformer started becoming overloaded. The biggest impact was in the Mahal Division, which includes the eastern areas of the city. On the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, the Vinkar-Manewada line broke down. The transformer had to be switched off for half an hour to an hour.
There was heavy load on the distribution system last night too. In such a situation many transformers had to be shut down to keep demand under control. That means load shedding had to be undertaken. However, MSEDCL does not call it load shedding now. Officials said that transformers had to be switched off compulsorily for load management. There is no shortage of electricity but the demand is too high. On the other hand, citizens are suffering from this crisis. They say that outages are happening more frequently. The problem is more during night hours.
Sources said transformers were proving to be inadequate in handling the increase in demand for electricity. The transformer of Guru Prasad Nagar in Dattawadi stopped working at 2 am on Tuesday night. A new transformer was installed around 3 pm on Wednesday. Until then people had to face the intense heat. Similarly, transformers failed in Sutgirni, Wathoda and Pawansut Nagar areas too.
An overloaded power distribution system is being considered as a major problem for the summer of next year. Power companies are alert in this regard. Mahatransco has decided to install three new power transformers in Besa and Mankapur substations. The tender process will start after the counting of votes when the model code of conduct comes to an end. On the other hand, MSEDCL has prepared a proposal for investing Rs. 2,000 crore under the "revamped distribution sector scheme" (RDSS) to strengthen the power infrastructure.