A major electricity breakdown hit power transmission network on Wednesday morning depriving most parts of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and AJ&K of electricity following a technical fault in Tarbela, Mangla, Muzaffargarh and Guddu power plants. The sudden blackout in major parts of the two provinces has not only earned embarrassment for the country but also raised questions on the sustainability of the power system at a time when the incumbent government is completing its five years term with the claim of resolving the electricity crisis.
The sources said, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who is also the energy minister, took serious notice of tripping and directed Power Division to sort out the fault immediately.
Power Division has constituted an enquiry committee headed by Additional Secretary Power Division Waseem Mukhtar and three system experts to determine the reasons behind the system's failure. The committee will propose the mechanism to avert such an incident in future.
"There was tripping due to a fault at Tarbela which cascaded throughout the network - from Tarbela to Guddu and Muzaffargarh," said Power Division's spokesperson at 9.56 am.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that 9000MW electricity was out of the system due to tripping.
According to officials' breakdown occurred when the Tarbela, Mangla and Ghazi Barotha power plants tripped, apparently due to faults in the main transmission line. National Transmission and Despatch Company's (NTDC) 500KV main transmission line had developed some faults due to which power supply from five distribution companies (Discos) in the north had been disrupted.
At a recent meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) Secretary to Prime Minister, Fawad Hasan Fawad pointed out that the present government made a commitment to the nation that there would be no load-shedding in summer 2018, and a power breakdown would affect the narrative of the government.
According to a spokesperson for the Power Division, the power stations remained shut due to the fault leaving a major part of the country without power, but the system remained in tact in Sindh, Balochistan and Karachi.
Soon after the breakdown, Secretary Power Division, Yousuf Naseem Khokahr rushed to the National Power Control Centre (NPCC) and witnessed the technical staff restoring electricity. At the time of blackout, generation stood at 11800MW against demand of 16,000MW. However, supply remained the same as demand soared to 21,000 MW.
In an update, the spokesperson added that the fault did not occur in Tarbela, adding that hydel generation was restored, Mangla synchronized with the national grid and supply to Islamabad restored. However, the claims of spokesperson were not reflected in the on ground situation. At 10 am, he said, generation rose to 12000MW.
The parliament was also plunged into darkness at a time when the National Assembly was in session and different committees of Senate and National Assembly were scheduled. The Ministries/ Divisions could not display their presentations on the projector though some floors were being supplied electricity from alternate sources.
The Spokesperson says that the staff of National Power Control is busy dealing with the technical fault and power is expected to be restored soon.
At 3 pm, Power Division spokesperson said that Ghazi Brotha 500KV line with Ghatti was restored, adding that shortly generation will rise.
At 4.26 pm, Spokesperson revealed that the system stabilized and there would be gradual restoration of grids and feeders.
The spokesperson in a written statement said that the electricity transmission system which split into North and South due to tripping today (Wednesday) at 9:28am resulting in electricity supply failure to Punjab and KPK areas was restored at 5:13pm (7:45 hours) with major power generation plants gradually increasing their input in the national grid.
According to the initial report, the 500kV transmission line Guddu 747-Raheem Yar Khan tripped at 09:28:11 Hrs and at the same time 500 kV Guddu-DG Khan transmission line also tripped. As a result, the load increased on 500 kV Guddu-Muzaffargarh transmission line from 733 MW/ 72 MVAR to 1559 MW/717MVAR as recorded at 500kV Muzaffargarh end. This line also tripped at 09:28:14 Hrs. This tripping resulted in under frequency on system from 50.18 Hz to 48.755 Hz within 5 seconds. Resultantly under frequency schemes came in action and frequency again improved from 48.755 Hz to 49.43 Hz at 09:28:38 Hrs.
Meanwhile some other power stations also tripped perhaps due to frequency fluctuation/ jerk and cascade tripping started in the northern part from Guddu to Peshawar. The system went under partial failure from Guddu to Peshawar at 09:28:59 Hrs when frequency decayed down to 45 Hz.
The Southern part of country from Guddu onward however remained normal during the entire day which includes Sindh and Balochistan areas.
As soon as the partial supply failure was reported the |NTDC ground teams were immediately mobilized to check the High transmission lines.
It is, however, important to note that before the tripping the system was having surplus electricity as compared to the demand therefore the temporary load shedding was purely associated with system fault, the spokesperson added.
The Power Division regrets the inconvenience caused to the electricity consumers in KPK and Punjab due to the partial system failure.
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