A day after the northern grid crash, it has emerged that Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttarakhand ignored strong warnings from the Northern Regional Load Despatch Centre (NRLDC) and the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) to the States to maintain grid discipline and stop over-drawal from the grid.
Also, on the day of the grid crash that affected millions of people, the CERC issued show cause notices to the heads of State load despatch centres, transmission utilities and electricity boards/distribution licensees in the northern region as to why they should not be held personally liable for penalty for non-compliance with its directions and provisions of the grid code with regard to maintenance of the required grid frequency demand estimate and installation of automatic demand management schemes.
The CERC order followed an NRLDC petition that sought directions to the States — particularly U.P., Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana, to stop over-drawal.
The CERC directed that 16 States, including major violators, shall not resort to any over-drawal from the NEW (north-east-west) grid when the frequency is below 49.5 Hz and shall comply with the provision of grid code; the respondents shall ensure that the directions of the NRLDC are complied with and compliance reports sent immediately.
“This shall ensure that the under frequency relays (UFRs) are kept in service at all times and the feeders used for load-shedding through UFRs are different from the feeders used for manual load-shedding so that the security of the grid is not compromised,” the order said.
“We direct that it shall be the personal responsibility of the officers in overall charge of the State transmission utilities/load despatch centres to ensure compliance with the directions and non-compliance with the above directions in any form will be viewed seriously and appropriate actions under provisions of the Act shall be taken. The next hearing has been posted for August 14,” it added.
