Tata Power has restored electricity in Mumbai after the country’s financial hub suffered widespread outages on February 27 after a suburban transmission line tripped.
The company said in a statement that supply was restored and the company’s hydropower units were provided for quick backup during the outage, the biggest the city has seen after the October 2020 blackout.
Bandra, Chembur, Santacruz and South Mumbai in the island city, along with Western Railway and Central Railway, were affected at 9.50 am, it added.
“… (The tripped line) connects to Tata Power transmission system and resulted in cascade tripping of some internal lines affecting 850 MW load of all discoms in Mumbai. Tata Power immediately stepped up hydro generation to full capacity for faster restoration and avoidance of larger outage. Power supply was restored completely in around an hour,” the statement read.
Early in the day, areas such as Govandi, Chembur, Dadar and Matunga woke up to no electricity.
"Due to the tripping of the MSEB 220 KV transmission line on Mulund-Trombay, the power supply to most parts Mumbai has been affected, as informed by the Head of Electric Supply Division of BEST,” BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chauhan said.
State-run Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), which distributes power in Mumbai and majorly relies on producers like Tata Power, said “because of Tata’s grid failure, there is no electricity in Sion, Matunga, Parel, Dadar, CSMT, Byculla, Churchgate, and other areas. The restoration work is currently underway".
The outage affected local train services between Andheri and Churchgate stations on Western Railways and caused momentary disruption on Central Railways. Thane and Navi Mumbai remained unaffected.
Power outages are rare in Mumbai and its satellite towns with the power grids designed to efficiently supply electricity 24x7 due to the immense energy requirements of the city and its neighbourhood.
Mumbai saw its last blackout on October 12, 2020 when electricity disruptions in some parts of the city lasted for 18 hours.
