If you are moving to Pune and want to know about load shedding and its basics, you are at the right place. Let's find out more.
The load shedding process is followed for a proper distribution for fulfilling the electrical power demand across various power sources. Load shedding reduces stress when the electricity demand is too high than the primary power source could cope.
Most buildings, including data centres, buy electrical power from a utility provider. A building operator may agree with the power provider to load the shed with consent at a specific time or based on the demand. It reduces the power cost and ensures that the building operation continues.
The power is drawn from the secondary sources by the building instead of the utility during the process of load shedding in Pune. Some examples of secondary power sources are on-site diesel generators, on-site or contracted solar photovoltaics or wind-based renewable power.
Since 2005, in Maharashtra, the demand-supply gap for power has started getting wider and wider. The primary reason for this could be the lack of rational capacity addition planning.
Even though load shedding in Pune was frequently done on a pre-scheduled time basis in rural areas, the urban and industrial areas also started facing load shedding of 2-4 hours per day during this period. The load shedding in Pune caused a major restraint on the financial condition of industries and caused great discomfort and inconvenience to residential consumers.
The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) has issued directives for managing this demand-supply gap, termed as 'load shedding protocol'.
According to these protocols, load shedding is different in different divisions and depends on distribution losses, collection efficiency as well as consumer mix of the division. As a result, there was a load shedding in Pune for over 10hrs in agriculture-dominated divisions with high losses and approximately 2-4 hrs in urban and industrial areas with the lowest losses.
Europe's plan curtails gas and electricity supplies to counter the ongoing power crisis. The UK is pondering power cuts, Germany proposes shorter showers and limited heating, while Switzerland and France plan calculated blackouts.
The power supply issue cannot be taken for granted by the West anymore as the climate is changing rapidly in there, with the summers being increasingly warmer and geopolitics deepening its winter. However, the developing world has been hiding this secret for a long time.
What the European nations are contemplating and preparing for has existed in other countries for decades. In India, it even has a name known as "load-shedding".
Based on cost considerations, regulatory mechanisms, and utilisation levels of coal plants, the paper demand and supply get balanced by India to protect its power grids.
Thus, load shedding is a continuing practice prevalent across the country. But, nowadays, it affects fewer people for fewer durations than 20 or 30 years ago; the rest who are still suffering have learned to adjust and schedule their lives based on the power supply.
For example, critical establishments, including hospitals and airports, have now started keeping alternatives such as generators handy. In the case of private homes, power inverters are more frequently used.
On the other hand, load shedding is prioritised by the local government in areas where there are more power thefts, distribution loss, and, crucially, unpaid bills. Small enterprises, the middle class and poor households often suffer the most from it.
In power grids, overloads stressed power plants. The prime mover, associated generator, and other parts of the system slow down as they try to cope with the excessive load.
It can lead to system instability due to a combination of events such as power fluctuations and overloads. Some parts, such as the protection system, may interrupt the supply due to overcurrent caused by overload.
Higher loads can also reduce production and supply frequency. Hydrogenation systems can withstand frequency changes of up to 10%, but the more sensitive heat generators are affected. A 5% reduction can significantly reduce the power produced as less energy is put into the turbogenerator.
A lower frequency can damage both steam turbines and frequency-sensitive loads. Therefore, most generator systems include low-frequency relays to disconnect some of the overloads automatically.
Generator faults cause significant power losses, losses in power transmission and distribution systems, and other reasons, including a lack of maintenance of the power generating and distribution systems.
It results in low power that cannot handle the attached load. However, losses can create additional load if the system is maintained correctly and losses are minimised.
Other factors that cause installed capacity to deliver less power are:
As people earn more as living standards improve, they can use more electricity. In addition to consuming more goods, they need electricity-dependent services and purchase more household appliances. It means that manufacturers have to expend more energy to produce their goods.
Managing evolution becomes a challenge. Load shedding can be used temporarily, but it becomes a problem if you do nothing to improve capacity and instead switch to shedding as a permanent solution.
Urbanisation and an over-reliance on technology are causing the demand for electricity to grow rapidly, and power generation companies must increase supply to keep up with demand. If you do this, the load may stay stable within the supply.
To fulfil an unexpected rise in demand becomes difficult if the generating firms haven't accounted for future expansion. The use of load shedding may be appropriate in the short term, but it becomes problematic if capacity is not increased and the shedding is utilised as a long-term fix.
Load shedding is the controllable reduction of the specified load current consumption according to certain shedding criteria. The amount of load scheduled to be dropped is conventionally determined according to a dynamic safety analysis for various contingencies.
In this case, lookup tables are created, and the load-shedding implementation is run accordingly. Load shedding in Pune is one of the last things a company providing electricity should consider. It led to customer dissatisfaction and lost consumer revenue when production is reduced and can also damage electronic devices.