Impact of COVID-19 and Nine-Minute Call on Indian Power Sector: Study of Blackout Prevention

Government of India (GoI) begun an unprecedented lockdown on 25 March 2020 to fight against the COVID-19. The national lockdown has been extended till 31May 2020. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on 24 March 2020 issued an order detailing the restrictions imposed on the movement of individuals as well as economic activities other than essential services. Nonetheless, the Indian Power Sector also is not invulnerable to this pandemic. The adverse effects already becoming evident in the power sector, however, Nine-Minute Call gained more attention to the media houses. In this article the impact of this pandemic on the Indian Power Sector is discussed to mitigate the long term effect and this study may help to prepare in this type of situation in the future.