Wondering if it's okay to switch off all lights at 9 PM tonight? Here are answers to all your questions

The Union Ministry of Power on Sunday issued a series of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) as a guide for Indians to heed to while responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal to showcase the nation's solidarity by switching off all lights for nine minutes at 9 PM on this day and burning candles and diyas, at a time when the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak is spreading like wildfire across the country.

In the FAQs, the government has stressed that people should switch off only lights at their homes and cleared the Opposition's concerns regarding load on the power grid in case all electrical appliances are turned off simultaneously across the country.

"Indian electricity grid is well designed to handle such kind of load variation and has several inbuilt levels of control and safety mechanisms to absorb any kind of frequency changes occurring due to such load variation," the Power Ministry said.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi had a day earlier shared an article that reported that power supply officials were concerned about the fact that the 'nine minutes' Diwali might have an effect on the power grids.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday addressed the nation through a video message, in which he appealed to the citizens of India to come together to defeat the threat of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis, that is spreading like wildfire across the nation.

In a unique proposition, the Prime Minister asked every citizen to switch off all lights at their residences on April 5 at 9 PM for nine minutes and instead light a candle, a 'Diya', or their mobile's flashlights to mark India's fight against coronavirus. The purpose of this exercise, Modi said, is to bolster confidence in the heart of the citizens with a realisation of the fact that no one is alone in this crisis, they are in this with 130-crore other Indians who are collectively battling this crisis.

"Friends, amidst the darkness spread by the corona pandemic, we must continuously progress towards light and hope. We must defeat the deep darkness of the crisis by spreading the glory of light in all four directions," said the Prime Minister in the video message.

"And that is why, this Sunday, on April 5, we must all together, challenge the darkness spread by the corona crisis, introducing it to the power of light. On this day, we must awaken the superpower of 130 crore Indians. We must take the super resolve of 130 crore Indians to even greater heights," Modi had said.

The Power Ministry's FAQs are as follows:

Question 1: Are only domestic lights to be switched off or are street lights, common area lighting,  essential services, etc lights also to be switched off between 9 - 9:09 pm?

Answer:  Only domestic home lights in the houses have to be put off voluntarily as appealed by our Hon'ble PM. It is again reiterated that no street lights, common area places, hospitals, and other essential services have to switch off their lights.

Question 2: Are my domestic appliances safe during the said switching off of home lights?

Answer: All your domestic appliances will be safe. There is no need to switch off Fans, ACs, Fridges, etc. Indian Electricity Grid is well designed to handle such kind of load variation and has several inbuilt levels of control and safety mechanisms to absorb any kind of frequency changes occurring due to such load variation. Thus, all the domestic appliances will be totally safe and hence should be kept in the normal functioning mode as per the requirements.

Question 3: Whether adequate arrangements and protocols are in place to handle grid stability during the light-out event on 5th April from 9:00 PM to 9.09 pm?

Answer: Yes, all adequate arrangements and standard operating protocols are in place to maintain grid stability.

Question 4: Is it compulsory or voluntary to switch off lights?

Answer: Voluntary. As already said only domestic home lights have to be put off.

Question 5: Some apprehensions have been expressed that this may cause instability in the grid and fluctuation in voltage which may harm the electrical appliances.

Answer: These apprehensions are totally misplaced. These are a normal phenomenon and the Indian Electricity Grid is well designed to handle such load variation and frequency changes as per standard operating protocols.

Question 6: Whether our grid management and technology deployed will withstand the fluctuation that light-out may cause?

Answer: The Indian electricity grid is robust and stable and employs state-of-art technology. It has in place necessary control and protective elements capable of handling such kind of fluctuations in demand at any instant of time.

Question 7:  Whether appliances like fan, Refrigerators, AC, etc should be switched off or kept in the on mode?

Answer: All your domestic appliances would be safe. These appliances should be operated normally as per requirements by the consumers. No need at all to especially switch off at 9 pm.

Question 8: Will street lights will go off?

Answer: No. In fact, all States/UTs/ Local bodies have been advised to keep the street lights on for public safety.

Questions 9: Whether Hospitals or other emergency and important installations will face light out.

Answer: No, the lights in Hospitals and all other essential services like Public Utilities, Municipal Services, Offices, Police Stations, Manufacturing Facilities, etc will remain on. The call given by Hon'ble PM is to just switch off lights in residences.

Question 10: A load of home-lightings alone is around 20% of the total load. Would a sudden disconnect of 20% load not destabilise the grid? What measures will the Ministry take?

Answer: Domestic lighting load is much less than 20%. Such kind of reduction in demand can be easily managed for which standard technical operating protocols are in place.

Question 11: Will there be load shedding? If yes what will be the impact?

Answer: No load shedding is planned.