Major power breakdown hits Lahore again

LAHORE: Yet another power breakdown hit the country on Wednesday morning, which is being blamed this time on smog that led to tripping of several power plants near Lahore.

Unlike previous major breakdowns caused by transmission lines failures, the latest electricity crisis has been blamed on tripping and technical fault related to four power generation plants located in the surrounding areas of the provincial capital. The power shortfall that hovered around 2,500mw before the breakdown surged by over 5,000mw from 7am on Wednesday, causing over 50 per cent shortfall in power demand and supply.

Following the initial breakdown of about four hours in the provincial metropolis and its surrounding areas, the outages are being witnessed across the province as one hour power suspension is being done every hour. The worst affected power utilities included LESCO, FESCO, GEPCO and MEPCO. It is learnt that Baloki, Nishat, Nishat Chunian and Guddu power plants tripped early morning, cutting 2,500mw power supply as a result of cascading effect. The Lahore Electricity Supply Company's (LESCO) quota reduced to 1,100mw from 2,000mw following the tripping of power plants. The abrupt cut in power supply caused immense problem for the masses. There is silence from Power Division, Ministry of Energy, right from minister in charge, spokesman to power utilities and other institutions over the province-wise major power breakdown.

A senior official of the Power Division said tripping of plants was limited to Lahore and its surrounding areas. He said the NTDC, however, could best explain the power situation.

Sources said Wednesday's power breakdown was the first major electricity failure witnessed upcountry. The intensity of smog this winter was far less if compared to last year. Moreover, the NTDC spent millions of rupees in washing power lines but the tripping problem is yet to be over. With power generation coming to the minimum level after reduction in water outflows from Tarbela and Mangla Dams, the national grid is facing pressure as far as widening gas demand and supply is concerned. A couple of days back, major RLNG-based power plants in Punjab had to stop working due to dearth of natural gas. Such eventualities and imbalance between North-South power generation plants and stability of national grid was at stake.

The sources were of the view that the causes of successive power failures should not be overlooked and concrete measures be taken to avoid their recurrence. Such power suspensions proved an obstacle in running industrial and commercial sectors smoothly. The ordeal of domestic consumers are also another source of concern, which needs to be given due attention by power managers.

Meanwhile, later at night, the spokesman of the National Transmission and Despatch Company Limited (NTDC) has said that power system of the country has been normalized after hectic efforts. All transmission lines, grid stations and power plants tripped due to severe fog have been restored.

The NTDC spokesman said NTDC teams and Distribution Companies (DISCOs) engineers were mobilized immediately, whose untiring efforts resulted in timely restoration of the system. Ministry of Energy (Power Division) also appreciated the joint efforts of NTDC, NPCC and DISCOs.