Electricity grids are robust enough to withstand load reduction during PM's 9-minute solidarity call: Power Ministry

Ending all speculations about the capacity of electricity grids to withstand a sudden drop of around 12 GW to 15 GW of power demand at 9 p.m. on Sunday, the ministry of power said that the grid is robust and that instructions have been issued to state load dispatch centres to handle the fluctuations.

In a letter to State governments, the Ministry of Power said, "The appeal of honourable Prime Minister is to voluntarily switch off only the lights at 9:00 PM on April 5, 2020. There is no call to switch off either streetlights or appliances like TVs, Refrigerators and ACs in homes. Adequate arrangements and protocols are in place to handle the variation in demand. People should be assured not to worry and continue running all the appliances as usual."

The letter also said that the National Load Dispatch Centre has worked out the procedures for grid balancing during the period which they will be communicating to the Regional and State Load Dispatch Centres separately.


"The lights in Hospitals and all other essential services like Public Utilities, Municipal Services, Offices, Police Stations, Manufacturing Facilities, etc will remain on. The call given by the Prime Minister is to just switch off lights in residences," the statement added.

Prime Minister solidarity call for Sunday, April 5 had raised multiple concerns about the ability of the sector to withstand this variation. In a brief appeal, PM Modi had requested citizens to partake in this exercise to boost our collective spirit and enable us to fight the menace of coronavirus.