Half of India Crippled by Second Day of Power Failures

India was plunged into darkness on Tuesday for the second straight day, in what has been called the world's biggest blackout ever. Officials reported that electric service was being restored to most of the roughly 670 million people who lost it — nearly half the country's population.

A power failure that affected about 370 million people on Monday was followed by an even larger grid collapse on Tuesday. Around 1 o'clock in the afternoon local time, the country's northern and eastern power grids failed. In New Delhi, schools and offices poured out into the afternoon drizzle to beat the rush home; traffic lights were dark for the second straight day and the city's metro system failed again.

According to the BBC, the breakdown hit Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan in the north, and West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and Jharkhand in the east — in all, about 600 million people across 19 to 22 states. An estimated 32 gigawatts of generating capacity was taken offline.

A combination of factors led to the collapse, experts said: extreme summer heat had pushed power use in New Delhi to record levels; the late arrival of the monsoon meant Punjab and Haryana farmers were drawing more grid power for irrigation pumps; and hydropower plants were generating less than usual. The northern grid had previously collapsed in 2001, and an estimated 27% of power generated was lost in transmission or stolen.

Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde — the same man who on Monday had boasted that India has one of the best power grids in the world — bore the brunt of the ridicule. He would be promoted just days later.

Source: NPR