Power Outage: Maharashtra Minister Asks State Utility to Put Up 2,000-MW Unit Near Mumbai

In the aftermath of the massive power outage in the financial capital, Maharashtra energy minister Nitin Raut on Thursday asked state-run power generation company to add gas-based capacity of up to 2,000 MW in the vicinity of the city. Adding the capacity at the Uran Gas Turbine Power Station (GTPS) by the Maharashtra State Power Generation Company (Mahagenco) can ensure in the effective operation of the islanding system in the city in the event of a grid failure, the minister said.

It can be noted that following the outage, experts have rued the lack of sufficient capacity within Mumbai or nearby areas which can make the islanding system, wherein the city gets detached from the rest of the state, work in case of a grid failure. According to experts, power requirements have grown in the city over the past decade since the system was last reviewed. On a visit to the Uran GTPS, Raut suggested adding other unit having a capacity of 1,000-2,000 MW at the facility, which can start generating power within seconds in the event of a grid collapse, as per an official statement.