[racer_ash]

I think contrary to belief that everyone will switch off their lights at 9PM on the dot, there was a bit of staggering of a few milliseconds from 8:55PM till around 9:02PM for switch off cycle and from 9:09 till around 9:12 PM for the switch off cycle This is purely my observation based on what I saw yesterday from our terrace.

Its not like there was a big switch somewhere and with a flick everyone's light went off and the reason that sustained the grid without any major issues (as claimed by the experts)

[INJAXN]

I did not see any grid failure reports in news today, so assuming houses blackout went fine.
I am pretty sure that our PM must have discussed this with power ministry and did not asked whole country to switch off lights without considering side effects of it.

[Engine_Roars]

I never understood the entire discussion around these grid failures. He did not ask to switch off any appliances apart from lights. We all switch of lights when we go to sleep, right? Agreed, it is not at the same time but at some point in time majority of lights of this nation are switched off. Keeping in mind all those who would go against him for the heck of it, there would have been a considerable number of houses who would not have switched off the lights. Our infrastructure could not be this bad that it can't handle even this much of fluctuations.

I was a part of this activity and it was a sight to behold from our balcony. It did give me a feeling that we are all in this together, I don't care what others think. I loved the moment and I shall remember it for a long time to come.

[sachinayak]

I think the doubts this time were due to a slightly different situation unlike the Earth Hour or switching off lights daily at night.

1. Overall the power consumption is much lower than usual, due to a lot of commercial establishments and factories being off. This is a big factor. Some industries work round the clock and thus prevent loads from dipping very low. Not in the current scenario.

2. The staggered effect e.g. when we switch off lights at home for the night, not everyone goes to bed at the same time. Plus in many homes, there is a significantly larger load coming in from Air Conditioner usage (in summers) and heaters (in some places during winters). A very time-bound shutdown of lights is not an everyday situation and as per posts on this thread, people have worked behind-the-scenes to keep the grid working and healthy.

So the concerns around the even, are not completely unfounded. This is quite an unprecedented event, that required multiple discoms to actually prepare for it and not a run-off-the-mill stuff. Appreciate all the hard work that has gone silently behind the scenes to support this.

My 2c.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by sachinayak

I think the doubts this time were due to a slightly different situation unlike the Earth Hour or switching off lights daily at night.

1. Overall the power consumption is much lower than usual, due to a lot of commercial establishments and factories being off. This is a big factor. Some industries work round the clock and thus prevent loads from dipping very low. Not in the current scenario.

Quoting you not because I’m targeting your post, but arguments around this grid failure.

When the lock down was announced almost suddenly, all factories, industries and commercial establishments went off the grid by the next morning, which is almost immediately; that too off routine. This is far far more load decrement than turning off home LED lights. If the grids were able to tackle that, then why this hoopla over turning off 9W LED lights?

[sachinayak]

Originally Posted by saket77

When the lock down was announced almost suddenly, all factories, industries and commercial establishments went off the grid by the next morning, which is almost immediately; that too off routine. This is far far more load decrement than turning off home LED lights. If the grids were able to tackle that, then why this hoopla over turning off 9W LED lights?

Not completely true. Each industry did not shut down at a specific time. They were staggered too. Some would have switched off the previous day and never started, some would have let the current process / production line complete before shutting down. But I agree, it is a much much larger impact than the current situation.

All I am saying is people are concerned about the unknown and this was an unknown. Not large enough to cause damage to the grid, but the unknown element was enough to raise some doubts. If not, the government themselves would not have tested multiple times (in some places) or have staff backing up (as per the POSOCO report) during the entire process.

In some lines this is similar to the COVID-19 outbreak, when no one was concerned in Dec 2019 or Jan 2020. Everyone thought this is just another of those incidents that will pass away, but it did hit us. And now that we have been hit, we will now probably err more on the side of caution.

[Newpunter]

Originally Posted by Engine_Roars

I never understood the entire discussion around these grid failures. He did not ask to switch off any appliances apart from lights.

Many people went a bit overboard and switched off the mains in their apartments. There was some discussion on doing this in our apartment as well, but was stopped when one person objected .

[saket77]

Originally Posted by sachinayak

Not completely true. Each industry did not shut down at a specific time. They were staggered too. Some would have switched off the previous day and never started, some would have let the current process / production line complete before shutting down.

No, not exactly what I asked. Just like people saying and probably that’s right that when we switch off lights at night, that phenomena of load decrement is factored in while designing the grids. According to that logic, even during the day, the same grid caters to industries, factories, offices & other commercial establishments; then there must be again some autopilot which would boost the output to provide for the above. Now when suddenly the next morning when these establishments didn’t open, how did things went off so smoothly and without social media erupting?

[Dinesh_Malhotra]

Hello,

Those who are scoffing that "nothing went wrong with the grid yesterday" should be enormously thankful instead of smug. The POSOCO report on the PM's event yesterday evening shows quite clearly what an "unprecedented challenge" it was (their words not mine).

POSOCO had advised all regions to ensure that the black start units were in good condition. If that does not signal how worried they were, I don't know what will.

The report by a Government authorized body: https://t.co/Gw1xFF4Cqd

The entire system through which supply is dispatched had to be modified.Generators with fast ramping capacities, i.e. hydro units, had to be used at full capacity at that time so their use at times otherwise advised (typically to manage peaks) was curtailed.

Thermal generators had to be ramped down to the least possible capacity and then ramped up again. FYI, using col-fired boilers like this is NOT environmentally friendly and before anyone says it, yes it is also ironically a problem with the Earth Hour but not everyone in India celebrates Earth Hour (until you mix it with rhetoric of course).

~ TN

[sachinayak]

Originally Posted by saket77

Now when suddenly the next morning when these establishments didn’t open, how did things went off so smoothly and without social media erupting?

I think information on the technical details are already shared on another thread, so no point repeating here.

Please note that, when the 21-day lockdown was announced, it was absolutely necessary for the larger good of the country. Any inconveniences or problems or impacts that decision would have resulted in, would still be completely justified as we were taking a bold action to stop this pandemic from spreading. It was not a feel-good decision but a very brave decision taken in the interest of the community. Kudos to the authorities for doing so.

However, yesterday's event was very very very different. Any untoward event yesterday (or even the remote possibility) would have been quite unfortunate as it was completely avoidable. I again appreciate the spirit, but when your resources are already stretched thin, then you would want to avoid any unavoidable risks. As the previous post clearly states there was a significant effort put in to make the system work. Appreciate all the hard work, but was it essential as the lockdown itself. I think not.

Social media perhaps was erupting coz of this reason. I do not represent social media, but sharing perspectives.

Also note that the POSOCO Report mentions

All senior personnel to be available at the generating stations, substations, Load Dispatch Centres between 18:00 to 22:00.

Was all this effort really necessary, is the question? And more importantly, is this not counter-intuitive to the entire lockdown principle?

[m8002?]

Add to it people forming groups and shouting "Go China Virus go". I am sure people would have received WA forwards of those.
I am still do understand the utility of this whole diya exercise. The clapping part was to acknowledge the medical professions fighting the pandemic. This just gave a field day for astrologers and numerologists to come up explanations on the specific time and duration.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by sachinayak

I think information on the technical details are already shared on another thread, so no point repeating here.

No. I don’t think we have touched that aspect. We have enough discussions and reports on yesterday but not about 25th. I will be really interested in knowing from first hand experience that how often situations like these arise at the back end and how routine it is. Any sources?

@Dinesh: do you have any reports or analysis about 25th morning?

And to be put clearly, if someone wants this question to dip in political colours, then please don’t respond. I will not be keen to discuss it.

Thanks.

[poloman]

Originally Posted by saket77

No. I don’t think we have touched that aspect. We have enough discussions and reports on yesterday but not about 25th..

As long as there is an expected dip or surge in demand the power generation and distribution companies can manage the load effectively. Even during a typical day the demand varies from hour to hour.
So the load management keeps happening in the back ground. During extraordinary situations like this, as explained in the other thread, some additional measures may be taken. Probably on 25th to cater to reduced load some of the hydro electric power stations would have been shut down. Also there may be a constant ramp down in other forms of power generation.

[BenjiRoss]

We had a brief powercut just before 9 pm and again around 9.07 PM in quite a few areas of Vellore.

[dragracer567]

I joined in from Dubai on video call with a friend!

PS I suppose we need moments like this to boost morale!