12-hour shutdown: Fog disrupts power supply in 13 districts

System is affected only on first day of such weather

HYDERABAD: Some 13 districts in southern and central Sindh plunged into darkness around 3am on Wednesday as a massive power breakdown caused by fog affected the national grid.

The complete restoration of the power supply took nearly 12 hours, beginning around 1:30 pm, according to the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) that powers the districts in Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and Nawabshah divisions.



"The 500 KV supply system of National Transmission and Dispatch Company tripped in Dadu to Jamshoro [districts] before 3pm. It was caused by fog which comes with the climate dust," Hesco's spokesperson Sadiq Kubar told The Express Tribune.

The electric supply restoration to the grid stations of Hesco started after 10 hours and 20 minutes of the breakdown, said Kubar, adding that Hesco began resumption of the power supply to the feeders 30 minutes later.



A similar outage occurred on November 7, 2016, which lasted for over five hours. The supply system will not be disrupted if the foggy weather continues during the coming days, said Kubar, explaining that the system is affected only on the first day of such weather. Hesco's system consists of around 6 dozen grid stations and over 400 electricity feeders.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 5^th, 2017.