Amid power crisis, parts of Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan face outages
At a time when Maharashtra is reeling under a power crisis, several parts of the state witnessed outages at around 10:00 am on Tuesday. Affected areas included parts of Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan Dombivali, Panvel, Palghar, Vasai Virar, Ambernath, Kulgaon, and Badlapur, among others A glitch in the state electricity distribution center at Thane's Padgha caused the blackouts, The Indian Express reported.
- With heatwaves and soaring temperatures across several states, India's power demand has been on the rise.
- Coal shortage fears triggered blackouts in many states, including Maharashtra.
- The state's daily power demand rose to 24,800 megawatts (MW) in summer from 22,000MW during the same period last year.
- Maharashtra energy minister Nitin Raut said power outages were inevitable due to increased power demand in the summer.
There was tripping in Padgha's 400KV sub-station caused by a small explosion at around 10:15 am, officials said, adding the power supply was restored slowly. Load-shedding of 255MW of power was done but supply was restored by 11:30 am in a phased manner. Padgha load dispatch center's executive director, Shrikant Jaltare, said there was a major failure and the fault was being located.
The power outage could also affect the water supply in some areas of Mumbai, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said. This is because there was a disruption in pumping, which could lead to the water supply being cut marginally, the official added.
Adani Electricity's spokesperson said the outage due to tripping at Tata Power's Dharavi Receiving Station—caused by tripping at a Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company (MSETCL) grid—led to blackouts in Chembur, Mankhurd, Govandi, Santacruz, and Bandra. Tata Power—which supplies electricity to parts of Mumbai—acknowledged the city witnessed outages due to the MSETCL line tripping. "To maintain grid balance, load-shedding might be initiated," it earlier said.
