Hundreds of millions of people have been left without power in northern and eastern India after three main powers grids failed. What does that mean?

Let’s understand. Power plant is the place where electricity is made. The poles and wires on the road are used for transmitting the electricity to our house. Most power plants across the country are connected to each other through an electrical system  called the “power grid”. If one power plant can’t produce enough electricity to a particular area, another power plant can send it across since they are all connected by the grid.

If the power grid fails, that means no electricity anywhere. :(

There are a total of five main power grids – Northern, North Eastern, Eastern, Western and Southern. Out of these the first four are interconnected to each other.

The authorities are fixing the situation, but till now it has not reached complete normalcy. Hundreds of trains have come to a standstill and hospitals are running on backup generators. The problem seems to be that of overloading of the grid as the states are drawing more power than they are allowed to.

Nearly a decade ago India had set an ambitious goal – electricity for all by 2012. Not only it is still a dream but the power sector is in crisis.

India is the fifth largest producer of power in the world but the amount of power made available per-head: that is among the world’s lowest.

References:

 “BBC News – Hundreds of millions without power in India.” Insert Name of Site in Italics. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Dec. 2012 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-19060279>.