Delhi airport faces brief power outage; flight operations unaffected

On Monday afternoon, Delhi Airport faced a brief power outage caused by a significant voltage spike in the transmission grid. Flight operations remained largely unaffected as the airport operator promptly activated its power backup system.

“Around 2 pm on Monday, Delhi Airport’s main receiving substation (MRSS) detected a significant voltage spike at the grid, reportedly due to the tripping of a 765 kilovolt (kV) line. This voltage imbalance from the Delhi Transco (DTL) grid briefly impacted all Delhi Airport terminals, affecting baggage acceptance and e-gates,” said Delhi International Airport (DIAL), the airport operator.

“To maintain essential services, we proactively switched all terminals to diesel generator (DG) load. The power backup system, installed by DIAL, was operational within a few minutes, and all backup procedures were initiated to facilitate passengers at all touchpoints,” DIAL added.

Delhi Airport, India’s busiest, handles roughly 1,270 scheduled flights daily, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

“By 3 pm, the grid voltage had stabilised and was accepted at the MRSS breaker. All services were smoothly transitioned back from DG load to DTL grid load, and the DG supply was disconnected. We appreciate the patience and understanding of all passengers during this brief period,” DIAL noted.

A spokesperson for DTL said the incident at Delhi Airport was triggered by a load crash event in the Northern Grid, which impacted several transmission lines, including the one connected to the DIAL substation.

A spokesperson for the national power transmission company, Power Grid Corporation of India, said there was no fault in any of their systems and denied that any of their lines or substations were involved in the incident at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA).

Executives of BSES Rajdhani Power (BRPL), which has a 51 kV connection to IGIA, confirmed that their substation did not develop any fault.

BRPL’s annual filings in 2023 indicated a supply of around 48 million units to DIAL. The filing mentioned that the supply to DIAL has reduced as it has become an open-access consumer.

An open-access electricity consumer procures its own electricity directly from a power generating station. In the case of DIAL, it is the Bajoli Holi hydropower plant in Himachal Pradesh, owned and operated by its sister concern, GMR Energy.

In June 2022, Delhi Airport announced it had become the first airport in the country to operate entirely on renewable energy — hydro and solar. About 94 per cent of its power requirement is fulfilled by the Bajoli Holi hydropower plant, with the remaining power needs met by solar panels installed within the airport, including a rooftop solar plant.