Loadshedding- The Open Secret

-->

-->

A rolling blackout, also referred to as load shedding, is an intentionally-engineered electrical power outage. Rolling blackouts are a last resort measure used by an electric utility company in order to avoid a total blackout of the power system. They are usually in response to a situation where the demand for electricity exceeds the power supply capability of the network. Rolling blackouts may be localized to a specific part of the electricity network or may be more widespread and affect entire countries and continents. Rolling blackouts generally result from two causes: insufficient generation capacity or inadequate transmission infrastructure to deliver sufficient power to the area where it is needed. In most other cases, the blackouts may happen without any advance notice, typically when the transmission frequency falls below the 'safe' limit.

Kathmandu, faced with an influx of rural migrants and rising energy demands, faces load-shedding even during the monsoon when the rains fill the water reservoirs where electricity is generated. During the dry winter months, electricity was cut up to sixteen hours per day, leading to disruption of the economy. In the rest of the country, electrification has occurred patchily, although in some small villages a small hydropower project set up locally may function more reliably than the power supply of the capital city.

The Maoist-led government has declared a State of Energy Emergency as the ever-increasing demand of electricity and the short supply of it has resulted in a severe energy crisis in the country. This shortage has been credited to the decreasing level of water in reservoirs of several hydro power plants of the country. But now the authority center have the power cut only for four hours a day but also facing lots of problems, especially it is faced by the students and the development workers.

Nepal has been suffering form load shedding problem since a long time ago, but the condition has gone worst from recent.

Maoist government has planned to generate 10,000 MW hydroelectricity within 10 years, but with the downfall of maoist government, the former plan has become a matter of historical joke for Nepalese which makes the Nepalese to be in the condition of dilemma to laugh or cry.

Present coalition government has modified the maoists’ plan as: to generate 25,000 MW hydroelectricity within 20 years. This plan seems to be made by economists more because this plan is based on Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility where a consumer do not want to purchase the more quantity for same price. Likewise, Maoists planned to generate 10000 MW in 10 years but present govt planned to generate 40% more power in the proportional time. This seems a joke to Nepalese because there is no any strong determination of the authorities to succeed this plan rather than increasing their bank account and shitting in the bathroom. Being 2^nd richest country in the world in water resources it is ridiculous to say that we face load shedding problem upto 22 hours a day( in Rolpa, it was 22 hrs.). But in Baluwatar(PM’s residential) , the loadshedding rarely occurs. F**k it, somewhere it is very hard to light the house and the bribers are enjoying it. All must suffer it and know what it feels like. The concerned authorities must give their pricky head towards this matter. I hope they will……

Load Shedding Overseas

Rolling blackouts were again imposed in late August 2005 in Southern California due to the loss of a key transmission line; the transmission line shut itself off because of a faulty sensor.

Most of California is divided into 14 power grids, each containing approximately 7% of electricity customers in the state, creating a total of 98%. The remaining 2% are placed on a separate grid, where users such as hospitals and police stations are exempt from ever having their power deliberately cut off.

In many East Coast states (such as New York State and New Jersey), "brownouts" rather than rolling blackouts are implemented during power emergencies.[citation needed] In this scenario, instead of the power being cut off altogether to a certain percentage of customers, the voltage is reduced by a certain percentage to all customers — the resulting dimming of electric lights being the origin of the term "brownout." Brownouts can cause significant damage to unprotected electronic equipment, but usually have no effect (other than reduced performance) on incandescent lights or some types of motors.

©Linkinmyth: My Generation