Lessons from the blackout in India
The recent blackout in India is one of the worst cases of power grid failure the world has ever seen. The massive power failure left nearly half of India's population without electricity for two days. Although there maybe many reasons behind this large scale load shedding, one cannot deny the fact that the electricity consumption through home appliances has risen sharply in recent years. Air conditioners, washing machines, personal computers, laptops, smartphones have become almost necessities instead of luxuries. Power systems are designed to handle a specific amount of load, if the load exceeds the limit, the system is sure to crash.
In Bangladesh we also need to address this risk of a gross power failure. Our systems are already overstretched and new loads are constantly being added. So to keep our systems from being overburdened any further, illegal power lines need to be searched out and eliminated and wastage of electricity must be stopped. Air conditioners, washing machines, coffee makers in homes and offices should not be used unless absolutely necessary. We can either take measures now to fix our power sector or just wait for the disaster to strike.
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