Normally projects are planned and designed taking into consideration the latest design norms that are framed with lessons drawn from past disasters. A disaster management plan helps to deal with such disasters promptly without any confusion on role and responsibility.
Power sector is vital for any country because economic growth of a nation depends on it. The hydropower projects have to face natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, and cyclones. In addition, they are subjected to man-made disasters such as bomb explosions, fires, and terrorist attacks. Such disasters generally result in extensive damage to the infrastructure and cause loss of lives and disruption of electric supply, which in some cases may be for a long period of one year or even more.
Disaster is defined as an unwarranted, untoward, and emergent situation that results in heavy toll of life and property and is a calamity sometimes caused by ‘force majeure’ and also by human error. Identification of all types of disaster involves a critical review of the ground reality and study of past disasters in similar situations. In India, the Disaster Management Act, 2005 lays down institutional, legal, finance, and coordination mechanism at various levels, namely, national, state, district, and local.
Disaster Management
A proactive approach is necessary to avoid/minimize any disaster. The Central Electricity Authority has issued a Disaster Management Plan (DMP), ‘generic document for developing crisis and disaster management plan for hydropower stations’, for hydroelectric power projects. DMP aims at minimizing the damage and restoring of the normal life at the earliest.
It is felt that in order to avoid/ minimize the probability of disasters in power houses, possibilities of the following may be explored: » Bulk oil devices (e.g., OPU) may be separated from main machine by a strong partition wall.
This story is from the October - December 2020 edition of Energy Future.
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This story is from the October - December 2020 edition of Energy Future.
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