India – no power to the people
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/However, from the Council on Foreign Relations:
Top of the Agenda: Power Returns in India Following Blackout
Electric power was restored in India today after malfunctions with three of the nation's power grids left more than half of the population without electricity yesterday (NYT)
.
Approximately 670 million people--10 percent of the world's
population--were plunged into darkness, while coal miners were trapped
underground and transportation ground to a halt.
Limited rainfall may have adversely affected the power delivery of
hydroelectric dams, or farmers experiencing a drought may have been
using more power to run water pumps, federal officials speculated. U.S.
power experts suggested that critical circuit breakers on the grid may
have been neglected. The demand for power in India far surpasses the
supply, with around 300 million people without access to electric power.
Analysis
"The blackout seems to have been selected by a malign God to exhibit yet another glaring vulnerability: rotten infrastructure
.
The technical fault appears to lie in the national transmission grid
that links together the local electricity networks. Officials have
suggested it may have been 'tripped' by a surge in demand for power. But
in truth India's power sector has been a disaster waiting to happen
after years of neglect," says the Economist.
"India is an increasingly rich country that fails to invest in its sources of wealth
:
roads, health, schools, power. The result is a nation that has
prospered (in parts and very unequally) despite the state, not because
of it. Middle-class Indians have sent their children to English-medium
private schools, who have gone on to jobs at multinationals who lay on
private healthcare, private transport--and private schooling," says this
Guardian editorial.
"Throw open the generation, transmission and distribution of power to more competition
,
which introduces efficiency. Often insufficient coal supply for thermal
power plants is the problem. Coal India's monopoly over mining coal
needs to be broken, which will bring efficiency in the production of
coal as well. Power theft, which receives political patronage but
disincentivises the huge investments needed by the power sector, must be
curbed," says this Times of India editorial.India seeks some light in the dark
By Raja Murthy
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/NH02Df02.html
The
power failure that this week brought half of India to a standstill is
the result of energy shortfalls caused by an addiction to
over-consumption, with gadgets such as air-conditioners now seen as
essential by the newly prosperous. The answer isn't India sacrificing
its chillers to swelter in ascetic discomfort, or modern nuclear plants.
An alternative to reliance on hydro-power and imported electricity is
needed, with the sun a glaringly obvious candidate. - Raja Murthy (Aug
1, '12)
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