Grid collapse: CM pitches for 'islanding facility' for Delhi

Addressing a meeting of chief ministers of northern states chaired by Union Power Minister Veerappa Moily, Dikshit said 'islanding facility' was necessary to protect the city from any failure of the grid.

If islanding facility is set up, then Delhi, in case of technical problem in the Northern Grid, will be able to draw power directly from selected power generating stations by cutting its transmission network with the grid.

Dikshit said Delhi can adopt the model of South Mumbai where the islanding facility has been in operation.

Officials in Delhi Power Department said the city currently has a generation capacity of around 1200 MW and once the 1,500 MW capacity Bawana power plant starts functioning at its optimum level, the city can easily put in place islanding facility.

Last week's grid failure had severely affected the city for two consecutive days.

In her address, Dikshit also requested the Union Power Minister to put in place a proper mechanism so that no state can overdraw power.

Delhi Government had blamed Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan for overdrawing power saying it led to collapse of the Northern Grid.