Power Grid Failure in

India (July 2012)

Jaimin Jha1, Shreya Shukla2

Introduction
Stability
Grid disturbance on 30th July, 2012
NR grid collapsed
Grid Disturbance on 31st July, 2012
NR, ER, NER grid collapsed

Grid disturbance on 30th July ,

2012
NR was importing power while WR, ER, NER exported
power
Nominal grid frequency (49.64Hz)
Insecure state of system
400 kV Gwalior-Agra and Gwalior-Bina lines were
overloaded (high thermal capacity)
Instructions by RLDCs to NR and WR utilities
Bina-Gwalior lines tripped on zone-3 protection due
to load encroachment
220 kV Bhinmal-Sanchore and 220kV Bhinmal
Dhaurimanna tripped due to power swing and zone-1
protection respectively

Grid disturbance on 30th July ,

2012
Large angular separation between NR and rest grid
due to Agra-Gwalior tripping
New power route was WR-ER-NR
Machines in NR slowed down
Angular instability
Lines tripped at electrical centre of angular separation
as distance relays are prone to pick up at this point
220 kV Pasauli-Sahupuri survived due to radial mode
of operation
Sudden loss of import power
AUFLS and df/dt relays did not faithfully operate
Cascade tripping led to NR grid collapse

Grid disturbance on 31st July ,

2012

NR, NER were importing power while WR and ER were exporting

power
Nominal grid frequency(49.84Hz)
Insecure state of system
Instructions of respective NRLDC and WRLDC were not followed
by respective utilities
NR and WR were connected through 400 kV Agra-Gwalior line,
220 kV lines of Badod-Modak and Badod-Kota lines
Generator Unit tripped in Suratgarh
Badod-Modak and Badod-Kota lines tripped due to overloading
Agra-Gwalior line tripped due to Load Encroachment
Bina-Gwalior tripped along with two more 132kV and 220kV lines
Gwalior became a part of NR and power routed from WR-ER-NR
Angular Separation between NR and WR increased

Grid disturbance on 31st July ,

2012
Electrical centre of angular separation in ER
and many lines in ER tripped
Some buses formed a part of WR and
connection between WR and ER was also
lost
Hence WR got detached from NE+ER+NER
Some generator units tripped in
NR+ER+NER
AUFLS and df/dt relays did not operate
faithfully
Finally there was cascade tripping and
NR+ER+NER grid collapsed

Factors Initiating Grid

Disturbance
Depleted Transmission networks
Overdrawals attributable to frequency
control through commercial signals
Inability to control flow on 400kV BinaGwalior-Agra line
Non-compliance of directions of LDCs and
Regulatory Commissions
Protection System Issues

Possible Securing Factors

Primary response from generators
Optimum utilization of available assets
Operation of defense mechanism
Autonomy to Load Dispatch centre
Intra-State Transmission Planning and its
Implementation
Dynamic Security Assessment and proper
state estimation

Recommendations
Review of protection system
Frequency control through generation reserves
Ensuring proper functioning of defense mechanism
Ensuring Primary frequency response from
generators
Revising total transfer capability based on change
in system conditions
Coordinated Outage planning of transmission
elements
Reactive power planning
Deployment of WAMS

Recommendations

Optimum Utilization of available assets

Need of Dynamic security Assessment and review of
State estimation
Implementation of Islanding Schemes
Development of Intra-State transmission system
Network Visualization
Reduction in startup time for generators
Strengthening of system study groups in various
power sector organizations
Formation of a task force to study the grid security
issues
Improved telecom infrastructure

Acknowledgement
Dr. Vivek Pandya (HOD Electrical
Engineering Department, Pandit Deendayal
Petroleum University)
Mr. Bhuvanesh oza (Lecturer, Electrical
Engineering department, Pandit Deendayal
Petroleum University)

References
Report of Enquiry committee on Grid
disturbance
D.P. Kothari, I.J. Nagrath, Modern Power
System Analysis, 4th ed.
Umar Naseem Khan, Lu Yan Power Swing
Phenomenon and its detection and
Prevention

Questions?

Thank You