India witnessed its biggest ever power blackout on 31 July 2012. Post
the collapse of the northern power grid twenty states in India were
left with no electricity till late evening. This is the second time that
the country saw a power failure of a huge margin, interestingly both
the failures happened in a time frame of over twenty four hours.
The collapse happened at around one o clock in the noon, when the
northern grid tripped, which then immediately led to a similar effect on
the eastern and north-eastern grids, as the two are connected as a
common grid. The problem was compounded as several states had removed
the under frequency relays that island their systems when grid
disruptions occur.
Apparently, the failure of the three power grids despite a stable
electricity supply was due to the mounting demand for electricity as
monsoon rains remained deficient, outdated power transmission equipments
and utter lack of discipline by state utilities in drawing power.
Among the states affected were Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, West
Bengal, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Orissa, Bihar, Rajasthan, Jharkhand
and Assam, meaning that the power trip covered more than half of the
country’s population.
Amongst the worst hit were the two hundred coal miners trapped in
West Bengal and Jharkhand as their shafts remained closed. Amongst the
railways, almost three hundred trains remained stranded , also the Delhi
Metro, which is a life line to many came to a stop leaving the traffic
situation in the state a tizzy. During the peak hour the supply stood
less than 40,000 MW against the demand of 130,000 MW.
The situation came back to control later by evening on 31 July 2012,
forty percent of the system was operating normally again and power was
eventually restored over the states. The first power cut of this kind
happened just few hours back on the night of 30 July 2012.
