The power demand in Delhi has been increasing at a rate of around eight per cent in the last few years and the government has projected the same at 6,000 MW this summer.
Though the power situation has improved substantially as the Capital has sufficient electricity now, discom officials told The Hindu that challenges remain as transmission and distribution network needs to be overhauled radically.
However, Delhi Power Secretary Arun Goyal said agencies dealing with the power situation are all set to meet any challenge that the city could face on the front of power. “The demand has grown substantially over the years. The power demand this year broke last year’s record. But we are all geared up to meet even the expected increase in the demand for power,” Mr. Goyal slightly disagrees with the view and said.
He conceded that the challenge lay in keeping the infrastructure growing with the pace of increase in the demand for power. But senior discom officials feel that improvement and augmentation of transmission and distribution network remain the key area on which the city administration needs to work.
“The May 30 storm clearly exposed how vulnerable the city’s transmission network is. It needs to be urgently improved if we do not want that kind of power crisis again,” a senior official added.
“There should be a backup plan to ensure that Delhi does not face a power blackout again. It is a system which takes into account that Delhi becomes an island of its own when it comes to such issues,” he added.
Besides, he added, more collaboration was needed between the two government agencies — the Delhi Transco Limited and the Power Department and the discoms.
