In this summer, in many old times Gurugram Reminds me of the 80s. Spending the night on the terrace, chit-chatting with the neighbor on the sidewalk, sitting with a book in the park, jogging in the streets unnecessarily.
On some days, the power cuts were so long that they exhausted the inverter backup. Memories of long forgotten times flooded back.
The summer of 2022 was the harshest of us and saw electricity demand hit a record high (a peak of 1,900MW in Gurugram this year, compared to 1,781MW in 2021. On Mars). This was due to a coal stock crisis and a disagreement with Adani Power, which caused the company to stop supplying its share of around 1.400MW.
So it was, by all official accounts, an aberration, a temporary blip. But in a city where hardly a day goes by without interruption – because of a trip, a snag, a ‘mistake’ or whatever other technical reason – it’s worrisome. The coming summer will almost certainly be harsher and demand pressure on power generation and transmission will increase. How will the city deal?
There is no clear answer to this. Not unless there is immediate improvement and overhaul of Gurugram’s power transmission network on a war footing. So far nothing has been indicated that this will happen. The city’s most ambitious power infrastructure project – the underground smart grid – has been creeping up since 2016, and even today, is still only 75% complete. The deadline was 2019.
And yet, there is a clear answer that lies across the border, in Delhi. The national capital also saw a record increase in demand this summer, but there was no power crisis. Delhi streamlined and upgraded its electricity infrastructure decades ago. Yes, having the national capital helped.
But in the rapidly growing and deeply connected urban agglomeration that has become the capital’s neighbourhood, a city like Gurugram – and for that matter, Noida – has had to deal with the policy and infrastructure of being neighboring the capital from their respective state governments and the Centre. should be privileged. Two cities that have developed into independent economic superpowers that both states view as their financial capital and biggest urban brand.
Over the past decade, both the cities, especially Gurugram, have emerged as job hubs and hence migration magnets of Delhi-NCR. The ambitious, cosmopolitan environment has influenced the pattern of urban development. Housing and office design has become futuristic, food and entertainment eclectic, and lifestyle global.
In this rush to move forward, power cuts keep turning the clock back.
Ram Pal Singh, president of the Haryana chapter of AIPEF, says paucity of manpower and lack of advanced equipment, along with poor projection planning, is the root cause of power supply problems in Delhi’s neighbourhood.
On the contrary, Delhi’s carefully planned power distribution network has helped it end power cuts for good, he says. “Privatization has certainly helped. In Delhi, private players have divided power supply into distribution, transmission, operation and maintenance for the 11kV network at the grassroots level. Based on the estimation of consumption and projected load, the plan has been prepared. Now, take Haryana. HVPNL is responsible for transmission only up to 66 kV, while DISCOM (DHBVN) is responsible for distribution, operation, maintenance and transmission of 33 kV and 11 kV. Also, issuing new connections. And only one set is responsible for maintenance. Line and repairing,” explains Singh.
He says that for the electricity department in Haryana to function effectively, many more boots are needed on the ground. “At one time, the electricity department had about 48,000 employees. Now, it is around 20,000. But the demand has increased 4-5 times,” he says, adding that “preventive maintenance” of the lines will reduce outages. “But we believe in breakdown maintenance,” says Singh.
In Gurugram, a legacy of flawed policies has added layers of complexity. Most of the city’s pending, year-round problems have a similar thread – privately developed power infrastructure. With vast tracts allotted to builders for the development of private colonies, condominiums and townships, the government’s policy also required developers to build the necessary power infrastructure.
However, till last year, completion of electricity infrastructure was not mandatory for issuance of a business certificate. Therefore, the city has fewer feeders, temporary connections and half-completed power lines, which do not have the capacity to handle the current demand and regularly cave in.
PC Meena, managing director of DHBVN, believes the primary difference between Delhi and Gurugram’s power infrastructure is “compliance”. Unlike Gurugram, the presence of private developers is negligible in Delhi and most of the colonies are developed by the DDA, where compliance with infrastructure commitments is not a problem. Meena told TOI, “Even in Gurugram and Faridabad, there are no issues like temporary connections and disruption in power supply in HSVP sectors as compliance is better and necessary power infrastructure is in place.” These problems require a change in the working style of private developers. to solve.
In all campuses where OCs have been issued despite the electrical infrastructure being incomplete, Meena said H-RERA should take cognizance and ensure that the facilities are developed. “There is not a single place where we cannot supply electricity. The problem is with the internal infrastructure, which needs to be developed by the developers,” Meena said.
However, the under-developed power infrastructure in private colonies is a formidable form of a problem that exists in spite of this. Poor planning based on an underestimation of power demand has left the city with a clogged electricity supply network.
Gulshan Nagpal, former chief engineer of HVPNL, says, “We prepare a 4-5 year plan for infrastructure development according to the demand forecast and review it annually. In Gurugram’s case, the power demand is beyond projection. grew rapidly and infrastructure could not keep pace. Electricity demand was estimated to grow by 6-7%, but it is growing at 15-20% annually.” He cites the new areas (58–115), where substations are still being built, as examples of the plan being wrong.
“The master plan projected these areas to be completed by 2031,” he says.
Anil Yadav, chief engineer of HVPNL, points out that the reliability of distribution has increased significantly in both Haryana and Gurugram, and grid failure is rare. “All substations in Gurugram have a ring system, which means there are multiple supply lines in one substation. If one fails, so does the other, so there is no disruption in supply,” says Yadav. But it’s another story with substation-to-end user radial networks, meaning that disruption at one point leads to an outage for everyone on the line. This will change the underground smart grid. When, we’ll have to wait and see.”
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