2012 India blackouts

context: en: At 02:35 IST (21:05 UTC on 29 July), circuit breakers on the 400 kV Bina-Gwalior line tripped. As this line fed into the Agra-Bareilly transmission section, breakers at the station also tripped, and power failures cascaded through the grid. All major power stations were shut down in the affected states, causing an estimated shortage of 32 GW. Officials described the failure as "the worst in a decade".On the day of the collapse, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde stated that the exact cause of the failure was unknown, but that at the time of the failure, electricity use was "above normal". He speculated that some states had attempted to draw more power than permitted due to the higher consumption. Spokesperson for PowerGrid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) and the Northern Regional Load Dispatch Centre (NRLDC) stated that Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana were the states responsible for the overdraw. PGCIL's chairman also stated that electrical service was restored "at a record time".A senior director for an Indian power company described the outage as "a fairly large breakdown that exposed major technical faults in India's grid system. Something went terribly wrong which caused the backup safety systems to fail."More than 300 million people, about 25% of India's population, were without power. Railways and some airports were shut down until 08:00. The busiest airport in South Asia, Delhi Airport, continued functioning because it switched to back-up power in 15 seconds. The outage caused "chaos" for Monday morning rush hour, as passenger trains were shut down and traffic signals were non-operational. Trains stalled for three to five hours. Several hospitals reported interruptions in health services, while others relied on back-up generators. Water treatment plants were shut down for several hours, and millions were unable to draw water from wells powered by electric pumps.The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) stated that the blackout had "severely impacted" businesses, leaving many unable to operate. Oil refineries in Panipat, Mathura and Bathinda continued operating because they have their own captive power stations within the refineries and do not depend on the grid.It took 15 hours to restore 80% of service.
qas: question: zh_tw: 使用超出允許額度的電力區域的結果是什麼？
answers: en: text: higher consumption

context: en: India is the world's third largest producer and consumer of electricity after the United States and China; however, the electrical infrastructure is generally considered unreliable. The northern electrical grid had previously collapsed in 2001. In 2012, an estimated 27% of energy generated was lost in transmission or stolen, while peak supply fell short of demand by an average of 9%. During that period, the nation suffered from frequent power outages that lasted as long as 10 hours and about 25% of the population, about 300 million people, had no electricity at all. Efforts are underway to reduce transmission and distribution losses and increase production.In the summer of 2012, leading up to the failure, extreme heat had caused power use to reach record levels in New Delhi. Due to the late arrival of monsoons, agricultural areas in Punjab and Haryana drew increased power from the grid for running pumps irrigating paddy fields. The late monsoon also meant that hydropower plants were generating less than their usual production.
qas: question: zh_tw: 農民用泵做什麼？
answers: en: text: irrigating paddy fields

context: en: On the day of the collapse, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde ordered a three-member panel to determine the reason for the failure and report on it in fifteen days. In response to criticism, he observed that India was not alone in suffering major power outages, as blackouts had also occurred in the United States and Brazil within the previous few years.The Washington Post described the failure as adding urgency to Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's plan for a US$400 billion overhaul of India's power grid. His plan calls for a further 76 gigawatts of generation by 2017, produced in part by nuclear power.
qas: question: zh_tw: 總理曼莫漢・辛格博士改革印度電網計劃的主要內容是什麼？
answers: en: text: nuclear power