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In the Dark
Photograph by Bikas Das, AP
A few scattered rooms in a neighborhood in Kolkata (Calcutta), India, remained lit on Tuesday, despite a massive power grid failure that left 680 million people—double the population of the United States—without electricity for several hours.
(Related: "India Power Outage Spotlights Energy Planning Failure")
The blackout—one of history's worst—lasted two days. An initial, 15-hour outage on Monday was fixed, but shortly after, at 1 p.m. local time Tuesday, a far larger collapse swept the country.
"Even before we could figure out the reason for yesterday's failure, we had more grid failures today," R. N. Nayak, chairperson of the state-run Power Grid Corporation, told Reuters.
The outage—which affected 22 of the country's 28 states—stalled hundreds of trains, led to massive traffic delays, and stranded 200 coal miners in West Bengal when electricity stopped flowing to mine-shaft elevators.
—Ker Than
Published July 31, 2012
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Haircut by Candlelight
Photograph by Bikas Das, AP
A barber in Kolkata (Calcutta) cuts a customer's hair by candlelight during Tuesday's blackout.
The cause of this week's vast power outages in India is not immediately clear. The government announced that it would appoint a three-member panel to submit a report within 15 days.
Power has been largely restored as of 11:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday, according to the website of the government-run Power Grid Corporation of India, which supplies half of the country's power.
(Related Quiz: "What You Don't Know About Electricity")
Published July 31, 2012
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Tangled Cables
Photograph by Parivartan Sharma, Reuters
A man fixes tangled electric power cables in a residential neighborhood in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (map) in June 2011.
(Related Story: "Smart Meters Take a Bite Out of Electricity Theft")
India has long struggled to provide power to its more than 1.2 billion inhabitants. For its power plants, the country relies on huge imports of coal and oil to supplement its own vast coal reserves, which are not of a high enough quality for the latest generation of power plants.
The "cheap-coal power age is over," Soumya Dutta, national convener of the India People's Science Campaign, an activist group that focuses on energy and climate-change issues, told National Geographic News.
(Related Story: "Coal Power Loses Its Luster in India as Costs Rise")
Published July 31, 2012
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After the Fire
Photograph from AFP/Getty Images
An electrical short circuit sparked the fire that gutted this train car and killed 32 people in the Indian city of Nellore on Monday.
The duration and geographic extent of this week's power outage were unprecedented in India. Energy experts warn that such occurrences could become more likely—the country's per capita energy consumption is expected to double by 2020.
Published July 31, 2012
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In Waiting
Photograph from AP
Commuters wait for a train in New Delhi, India, on Monday during a massive power grid failure that halted hundreds of trains.
To reduce its dependence on coal, India is experimenting with alternative forms of energy, such as solar power, wind power, hydropower, and, in rural areas, so-called husk power—electricity fueled by methane gas released by rice husks.
The government had also planned to build the world's largest nuclear power plant in Jaitapur as part of an effort to meet the country's daunting energy demands.
(Related Story: "India Maps Out a Nuclear Power Future, Amid Opposition")
But the U.S. $9.3 billion project became a target for protest after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster in Japan.
(Related Photos: "One Year After Fukushima, Japan Faces Shortages of Energy, Trust")
Published July 31, 2012
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Backup Power
Photograph by Tsering Topgyal, AP
Indians walk past an electric generator for sale in a market in New Delhi, India, on Tuesday, during the second day of this week's blackouts.
Power outages in India are commonplace, and residents accept them as a part of daily life. Many people and businesses own diesel-fueled generators for power backup.
(Related: "Delhi Offers Cleaner Auto Rickshaws, But Residents Choose Cars")
Published July 31, 2012
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Midnight Oil
Photograph by Parivartan Sharma, Reuters
Muslim girls study by candlelight inside a religious school on the outskirts of New Delhi during Monday's massive power outage.
One day after power was largely restored in India following a massive power grid failure, the country was hit by a second, even larger outage on Tuesday.
Published July 31, 2012
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Power Play
Photograph by Parivartan Sharma, Reuters
An employee at a power station near New Delhi scales an electric pylon on June 8.
Arup Roy Choudhury, chairperson of the state-run NTPC, India's largest power producer, has blamed the government for chronic fuel shortages that have worsened the country's energy crisis and delayed steps to increase power generation, according to The New York Times.
Published July 31, 2012
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