October 13, 2022 (MLN): The country’s entire southern region including Karachi has been witnessing a blackout since 9am in the morning as a technical fault continues to trip power plants.
“Due to an accidental fault in the country's southern transmission system, several southern power plants are tripping in phases, which is disrupting the transmission of electricity in the southern part of the country,” the Ministry of Energy said in a tweet. It said the authorities are investigating the cause of the fault.
Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir in a press conference said that Karachi and Quetta are priority regions now. Nearly 8,000 MW of power went offline at around 9am however, the government has restored 4,700 MW, he explained. “Restarting of power plants will consume time therefore complete resolution of the problem will take a few more hours.”
He said that an enquiry will be held into the causes of failure and stern action will be taken against those responsible for the faults.
As per sources, the HVDC 500kV transmission line got tripped due to a fault in Hub, Baluchistan which led to a sharp drop in frequency, resulting in a loss of power from Karachi to Rawat. Meanwhile, the northern region is currently being isolated and restored.
With power plant closures in the southern region, the northern consumers are being supplied electricity through hydel power generation units.
The power plants in the southern region are working on supply restoration. Even if the National Transmission and Despatch Centre (NTDC) is unable to restore HVDC lines, the KE may be able to resume electricity provision to 80% of the city within the next few hours.
Meanwhile, for a southern region other than Karachi, the NTDC is yet to share details on the restoration.
Just as Karachi was going on without power, the Sindh High Court issued arrest warrants for KE Chairman and CEO over failure to provide electricity in the city. The hearing was held in the dark as the SHC building was also without power since morning.
Copyright Mettis Link News
Posted on:2022-10-13T14:29:49+05:00
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