Power Supply Fully Restored Across Country: NTDC Spokesman

ISLAMABAD, (Muzaffargarh.City – 10th Jan, 2021 ) :A spokesman for the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) on Sunday said power supply, after being massively hit last night at around 2341 hours, had fully been restored across the country. “The NTDC grid stations of 220kV and 500 kV and transmission system have been fully restored across the country,” the spokesman said in a press statement. Sharing the updates, the spokesman said power supply to Karachi had also been restored through 500 kV Jamshroo-NKI-Karachi transmission line. Power supply to Muzaffargarh and Rahim Yar Khan has also be resumed from Guddu Power Plant, he said. Earlier in the day, Minister for Power Omar Ayub along with Information Minister Senator Shibli Faraz held a news conference and informed the nation that the frequency dropped 50 Hertz to 0 Hertz within a second after developing a technical fault initially at the Guddu power station. He said technical teams were sent to identify the fault there but faced problems due to dense fog. The minister, who himself supervised the power supply restoration efforts, said soon after the fault occurrence, the safety system started shutting down the power plants which resulted the 10,300 MW out of the system. The Power Minister said North to South, Tarbela and Mangla power stations witnessed shut down, however, it took few hours to restore the system back. He said that frequency had dropped due to old transmission system which required huge amount for its up gradation. Accordingly, Omar Ayub said the government had initiated work to change the transmission system step-wise as it invested Rs 49 billion to improve the system. Matiari to Lahore 660kV HVDC Transmission Line Project was nearly completed and it would be operational in a couple of months, he added. Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz said the present government was working on improvement of power distribution system which remained neglected in the past. He said the government was committed to bringing improvement in the power sector, adding a comprehensive plan was being pursued to upgrade transmission system and enhance power generation.

He said that presently power generation capacity was more than 36,000 MW but only 26,000 MWcould be distributed as distribution system was not compatible with it. K-Electric spokesperson said the power in major part of the metropolis was restored around 8 a.m on Sunday. A senior officer of Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) said around 3.30 pm, out of 550 electricity feeders, 225 had been energized, whereas power supply to 50 grid stations were restored. Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (PESCO) Spokesman said electricity to the most parts of Peshawar and other areas of Kyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) spokesman told that normal temporary load-management of short duration has been started on different grid stations. Un-interrupted power supply would start after complete normalization of the system, he said. Meanwhile, the NTDC constituted a four-member committee to look into facts and caused of collapse of power system, which plunged most of the country into dark. General Manager (AM) North, NTDC Malik Javed Mehmood would convener of the committee, while GM (Technical) NTDC Ghulam Abbas Memon, CE (PO&C) Atif Mujeeb Usmani and Chief Engineer (Netork) O/o (SO) NPCC would work as members. According to a notification, the committee would probe into the reasons and facts leading to collapse of power system and would fix responsibility of negligence on the officers. The committee would also suggest measures to prevent re occurrence of such incidents in future. “The committee is required to give its report within comprehensive findings, recommendations and way forward within 07 days,” it added In view of a preliminary inquiry, the Central Power Generation Company has suspended seven of its employees working under Plant Manager-III for showing negligence that caused the electricity failure.The suspended employees include Adl. Plant Manager Suhail Ahmed, Junior Engineer Deedar Ali Channa, Foreman, Ali Hassan Golo, Operator Ayyaz Hussain Dahar and Saeed Ahmed , besides attendants Siraj Ahmed Memon and Ilyas Ahmed.