Delhi Airport, India's busiest airport, handles about 1,270 scheduled flights a day, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
Deepak PatelShreya Jai New Delhi
On Monday afternoon, Delhi airport experienced a brief power outage caused by a significant voltage spike in the transmission network. Flight operations were largely unaffected as the airport operator immediately activated its emergency power system.
“On Monday at around 2 pm, the main power substation (MRSS) of Delhi airport detected a significant voltage surge in the network, reportedly caused by the fault of a 765-kilovolt line. This voltage imbalance in the Delhi Transco (DTL) network briefly affected all terminals of Delhi airport, affecting baggage claim and electronic gates,” said airport operator Delhi International Airport (DIAL).
“To maintain essential services, we proactively switched all terminals to diesel generators (DG). The emergency power system installed by DIAL was operational within minutes and all emergency power procedures were initiated to assist passengers at all touchpoints,” DIAL added.
Delhi Airport, India's busiest airport, handles about 1,270 scheduled flights a day, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
“By 3pm, the mains voltage had stabilised and was accepted at the MRSS circuit breaker. All services were smoothly switched back from DG load to DTL mains load and DG supply was disconnected. We thank all passengers for their patience and understanding during this short period,” DIAL noted.
A DTL spokesperson said the incident at Delhi airport was triggered by a load crash in the Northern Grid, which affected several transmission lines, including the one connected to the DIAL substation.
A spokesman for national power transmission company Power Grid Corporation of India said there was no fault in any of its systems and denied that 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 there was no fault at their substation.
BRPL's annual reports for 2023 indicated a supply of around 48 million units to DIAL. The reports mentioned that the supply to DIAL has declined as the company has become an open-access consumer.
A freely accessible electricity consumer gets his electricity directly from a power plant. In DIAL's case, this is the Bajoli Holi hydroelectric power plant in Himachal Pradesh, which is owned and operated by its sister company GMR Energy.
In June 2022, Delhi Airport announced that it was the first airport in the country to be powered entirely by renewable energy – hydropower and solar power. About 94 percent of its power requirements are met by the Bajoli Holi hydroelectric power plant, with the remaining power requirements being met by solar panels installed in the airport, including a rooftop solar array.
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