Frustration at its peak - 10 hours of power cut per day!

Hi Guys,

Of late I have not been able to do anything properly due to the heavy power cut that we face here at Tamil Nadu. 9 am – 12 pm, 3 pm – 6 pm, 7-8 pm, 10-11 pm, 1-2 am and 4-5 am – this is the power cut schedule for a day – totally 10 hours. Even the inverter’s battery does not get enough time to recharge itself.

Earlier, I have written three posts namely Horrible Power cuts (April 24, 2010), Dreadful Powercuts (May 26, 2010) and Power Shedding – An Integral Part of Life in Tamil Nadu (April 21, 2011). Wow, the last post was exactly a year ago – an unexpected coincidence.

At least then the power cuts were for 3-4 hours, but now it is totally worse. Thinking about the power cut situation, this scheduled and unscheduled power cuts started just before I started BE. Now I am going to complete BE and now the situation is rather worse. The power generation should have been increased but it has remained same all the way and the planning has also been poor. The parties blame each other for the situation and the fact is that neither has taken real step towards improving the situation.

A banner held during a protest

 Now, the situation looks quite promising. Kudankulam Nuclear power plant is all set to open in 45 days which will lead to production of 1000 MW (the deficiency is around 4000 MW). Some more thermal power plants are also under construction. Hoping that they get completed soon, the deficiency would decrease. But then, apart from that there is no future plan which is again very dangerous. The usage would be increasing all along.

Some of the businesses have been profited due to the power cuts. Inverter and battery sales have been on a high and the demand is so much there. Some of the entertainment sectors such as theatres, food centers, and restaurants have been benefited too. People come here in order to avoid the power cuts.

Students studying in lamp light during power cut

What exactly do people expect now? Steps should be taken towards Renewable power sources, particularly power generation from solar energy (like the 600 MW Park that has been opened at Gujarat). Most importantly, people expect that Chennai should have more power cuts, currently they face 2 hours only. By increasing it to 3 or 4 hours, at least the other cities would get enough power, so that at least the people would be getting enough power during sleeping hours (10 pm – 6 am).

Personally what do I expect? Each time I have written similar posts I have hoped that the situation would be better in the next season. But it has only worsened. I think it can’t worsen beyond 10 hours and I hope I don’t write a 12 or 14 hour power cut next time.

Happy Reading!!!

Power Shedding - An integral part of life in Tamil Nadu!

Hi Guys,

I was reading the post Horrible Power cuts that I wrote just about a year ago (24-4-10). It seems the situation was much better then, than how it is now. These days there are nearly 3-4 power cuts each day. One announced 3 hour power shedding and many other surprise power cuts. The total amount of power shedding sums up to nearly 4 hours per day.

Government is taking no steps for improving the situation. Power cuts have become an integral part of life in Tamil Nadu. The duration of power shedding has been constantly increasing over the years. In the recent election manifestos, both the leading parties of the state announced a big list of freebies. The astonishing list included Grinder, Laptop, free land and many other things (I can’t remember). But neither of the parties promised to improve the state of power in the state. Did they fail to remember about the power shedding, as there is no power shedding in Chennai. It is another mystery, why they are not willing to carry out power shedding in Chennai.

As I read the previous post I wrote on Power cuts, I remembered about the Koodankulam Nuclear Project. Does anybody know what happened to the project? I have not seen any media coverage about the project these days. Earlier, they used to write about it, at least giving a clue of the state of the project. Is it still being constructed? Hope the project is still going on.

Earlier there used to be media coverage about the issue. Newspapers and magazines used to publish articles criticizing the government for taking no efforts and would make some suggestions to the government for improving the situation. These days they don’t even care about it (one reason maybe that both people and government didn’t even care about it).

It is such a shock to see that no one is opposing the increased power shedding for over a year or so. One plausible reason is that they have started to accept it and believes that nothing can be done to improve the state of power.

Wake Up, People!

Happy Reading!!!

Dreadful Power cuts!

Hi Guys,

How would it be getting awakened in mid of your sleep because of sweat? I had one such night yesterday.

My parents had gone to Chennai and so I was alone in my home. It was 9.45 when I finished washing the cooking utensils. I had Strength of Materials exam today and hence I started to prepare for the exams. Suddenly the lights went off. I took my mobile phone and saw that the time was 11pm. It was 11.15pm when power came again. I was sodden in sweat and I was in no mood to study. So I decided to go to bed.

Within a few minutes, I was asleep. I was awakened in the mid of my sleep. When I awoke, I was startled. My whole body was drenched in sweat. I found that there was no power. I took my phone and saw that the time was 2am. I assumed that power would have gone in between 1.30am to 1.45am from the amount of sweat generated from my body.

To avoid dehydration I drank some water and decided to stay awake until power came back. I thought power might comeback in 10 or 15 minutes as usual. But time was moving on and power was not coming. In my sleepy mood, seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours. I was checking the time for every few minutes and thought power might come back now. But it never came.

When it was 3’o clock I thought there might be some problem in the transformer or in the electric wires. I opened my bedroom window and was dazed to see that the street light was glowing as bright as ever. I was able to hear the sound of neighboring house’s Air Conditioner. I was afraid that there was some problem with the electricity connection in my home. I was standing nearby the window thinking of what to do next. Suddenly the environment became silent. When I saw through the window the street was completely black. I was thinking whether some ghost was playing with me. Then I understood that there was problem in one of the three phases. We have single phase connection in our home, whereas our neighbor has 3-phase connection (that was why AC was running there).

It was 3.15 pm, when power came back. I fell asleep quickly. When I next woke up, I was hearing the alarm sound of my mobile phone. It was 6am. I was not feeling great, but got up since I needed to get ready for the college. Some of my friends told me that they had same type of problem in their homes too. I was bewildered. அடப்பாவிகளா... Power cut பன்ன இப்பிடி ஒரு  techniqueஆ? என்ன ஒரு வில்லத்தனம்???

2 minute power cut

You might have heard about 2 minute noodles. Here a new concept of 2 minute power cut is slowly blooming. Power will go suddenly and in a few minutes, power will be back. This stuff happens 3 or 4 times a day. Actually what is happening is unknown?

Power இருக்கா இல்லையா?

Last week, I read in a newspaper that power shortage in Tamil Nadu had come down from 1500 MW/day to 350 MW/day, because of the increase in wind power production, thanks to the cyclone Laila. Then our officials should have reduced the load shedding time from 3 hours to 1 or 2 hours. But, as if there was no shortage our officials removed the scheduled load shedding.

Last week, when I told my brother about the situation here, he told me, ‘ஏன்டா இப்பிடி  cycloneஆல power கெடச்சா, ஒரு ரெண்டு மன்னேரமா கொறச்சா,  ரொம்ப நாளைக்கு continue பண்ணலாமே? நம்ம ஆளுங்க தெரிஞ்சு பன்றாங்களா , இல்ல தெரியாம   பன்றாங்களா?’

From what is happening now, I think நம்ம ஆளுங்க தெரிஞ்சே தான் பண்றாங்க. Power cut பண்றது இல்லனு சொல்லிட்டு, unofficially they are shedding the power.  This is more frustrating than the scheduled load shedding. At least then, we knew the exact time and we were able to adapt to it.

Scheduled power shedding is much better than this unscheduled power shedding.

Happy Reading!!!

Horrible Power cuts!!!

Hi Guys,

Do you know which is the most romantic state in India?

(Answer at the end of this post)

It’s very hot here with the mercury constantly touching 40 degree Celsius. To make life difficult there is a regular 3 hour power cut from 9am to 12 pm and many irregular power cuts. Particularly there is a 5 minute power cut from 10.55 pm to 11 pm. I don’t know what this 5 minutes power cut will serve for TNEB, other than people’s curse for disturbing their sleep. Other than this once in two weeks or so, there will be a power cut from 9am to 6pm for 9 hours.

In the recent days, I read some articles about these power cuts and I analyzed the reasons for the power cut. The main reason said is that the production of electricity is very less, when compared to the demand. This may be a reason but there are more reasons. I’ll be writing my views below.

Wastage of Electricity

In the recent days, when I went out during night time, I noticed these bizarre things along the road side. There was an advertisement hoarding kept by a hospital. It advised motor cyclists to wear helmets.....