Nine Minutes Blackout Call

To keep the involvement of the people alive in the lockdown Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi announced that on 5th April 2020 Sunday at 09:00 PM we have to shut down all electrical lamps for 09 minutes to show out the unity of the country to fight Corona Virus (COVID-19). And we will do this as a united nation INDIA.

The demand is expected to reduce by about 15 GW during the nine minutes. But there are some effects of a sudden sharp fall and rise because already Industries, Railways and some Commercial loads are shut down and mostly Residential loads (Lamps, TV, AC, other home appliances, etc.) are alive, due to that power generation is reduced drastically and generation is going on at 30-35% of capacity.

The power generation in India principally by Thermal power station and Hydropower station. In that operating and controlling of the hydropower station (HPS) is easy as compared to the thermal power station (TPS) i.e. HPS are easy to start and shutdown by regulating the flow of water than TPS (in which coal is burnt first produce heat to raise steam and steam drives a turbine to drive an alternator which finally generates electricity). 

Now at this time, major loads on the grids (In India there are five regional grids: Northern, Eastern, Western, North Eastern, and Southern Grids.) are lights, TVs, ACs, Agricultural pumps, etc. As the generation is principally by TPS and most of HPS are not operating due to light load on the power grid.

When the whole country will shut down lamps on 5th April 2020 there will be a sudden reduction in load on the grid but at this time generation (which is principally due to TPS) cannot be stopped (or cannot be controlled easily due to its kind of operation) and therefore generation is more and load is suddenly reduced; this is a kind of open circuit fault because at 09:00PM power generation will be there and at the consumer side, no one will be using power.

This may lead to transient stability issues and the grid can collapse.

So can we stop the generation?

No, we cannot plan generation to shut down because TPS will take much time to shut down generation (Coal Burning-Steam-Turbine rotation-Alternator-Electricity) and resynchronization problem after 09:09 PM (i.e. after 09 Minutes).

What you can do?

To avoid this sudden fall and rise due to 09 minutes of shutdown you can continue to switch on AC, Refrigerator, etc. You can shut down only the lamps of the house.

“Power Ministry, Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) and the grid operator Power System Operator Corporation (POSOCO) are up to the task and are confident of managing the grid stability for the event”.

Stay Safe Stay at Home. 

#IndiaFightCorona. 

#KeepSocialDistancing 

“Sometimes you just need to go off the grid and get your soul right”

-Prashant Gorakhnath Patil