Question : Power System Islanding for Major Cities

(a) whether the Union Government has recommended every State to prepare a mechanism for power system islanding for major cities to avoid a situation like the grid collapse in Mumbai in October, 2020;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the response of the State Governments thereon;

(c) whether the Union Government has drawn out an appropriate plan for crisis management;

(d) if so, the details thereof;

(e) whether the Union Government has directed designing islanding schemes for all major cities and also asked them to submit proposals if there is a need for installation of power plants in or around the cities; and

(f) if so, the details thereof and the response of the State Governments thereon?

THE MINISTER OF POWER AND NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY

(SHRI R.K. SINGH)

(a) & (b) : In order to avoid the outage in the electricity grid, the Islanding scheme was reviewed in the Ministry of Power (MoP) and it was decided that islanding schemes may be designed for all major cities of the country covering the essential loads. All the five Regional Power Committees (RPCs) have coordinated with the States and have identified various new islanding schemes.

(c) & (d) : MoP, with assistance of Central Electricity Authority (CEA), has prepared a “Crisis Management Plan” for addressing the manmade crisis situations such as terrorist attacks, cyber-attacks, bomb threats, strikes etc. Apart from basic plan that encompasses the whole power sector, sector-specific generic documents on crisis management for thermal, hydro, renewable, transmission and distribution sectors have also been prepared. All such plans are revised on a regular basis to keep it abreast with the new challenges and issues coming up with changing times.
(e) & (f) : While designing the Islanding schemes, States have been advised that the generating stations, which are spatially nearby the strategic and essential loads, may be given priority. However, if there is a need to establish a power plant in/around such a city for the purpose, the proposal may be submitted for consideration of the concerned State/Utility. Possibility of installation of storage system at such location may also be explored.
The Region wise details submitted for Islanding Schemes by RPCs/States are given at Annexure.
***********