Analyses and Discussions of the Blackout in Indian Power Grid

[a]Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering， University of Strathclyde， Glasgow， UK.

[b]College of Energy and Electrical Engineering， Hohai University， Nanjing， China.

*Corresponding auhtor.

Received 23 April 2013； accepted 26 July 2013

Abstract

Widespread blackouts of “7.30” and “7.31” occurred in India in 2012. Severe problems in the infrastructure， operation and management in India power grid have come to light after the successive blackouts. The fundamental reason and trigger factors are analyzed in this paper first. Based on the similar characteristics between China power grid and India power grid， in the case of Chinese grid， lessons of preventing blackout of large power grid were discussed by analysis and comparison， mainly on harmonious development and interactive operation of source-grid-load， and construction of wide-area protection system. Suggestions are proposed to improve the security and stability of large power grid with coordinated control system.

Key words： Indian power grid； Blackout； Source-grid-load； Interactive operation； Coordinated control； Wide-area protection

LIU Shuran， DENG Hui， GUO Su （2013）. Analyses and Discussions of the Blackout in Indian Power Grid. Energy Science and Technology， 6（1）， -0. Available from： URL： http：///index.php/est/article/view/10.3968/j.est.1923847920130601.2627

DOI： http：///10.3968/j.est.1923847920130601.2627

FOREWORDS

The severe blackout occurred consecutively twice on 30th and 31st July 2012 in northern India， which affected 670 million people’s normal life and work， is the one spreading to the largest population in the world （Report of the enquiry committee on grid disturbance in northern region on 30th July 2012 and in northern， eastern & north-eastern region， 2012）. As a result of the blackout， in cities of the vast affected Indian regions， subways were shut down， factories’ power-supply was cut off， and households’ water-supply was also cut off. Thus the Indian economy was severely impacted and in the mean time the blackout drew high attention in the worldwide as well.

With the rapid development of global economy， many countries including India are facing the challenge of cross imbalance of electricity consumption and power distribution. Meanwhile the gird construction and management are comparatively lagged， thus the security and stability of grid have severe hidden threats accordingly （Xue & Xiao， 2012）. In case of some occasional natural disasters or human factors， a series of chain effects would be possibly trigged and lead to blackout consequently. In recent years， blackouts occurred from time to time in the worldwide. It reminds all the power practitioners that construction of safe and reliable grid is an urgent task at present （Xue & Xiao， 2011）.