Partial restoration begins after nationwide blackout

KARACHI:

Pakistan plunged into total darkness as the National Transmission and Despatch Company’s (NTDC) power system encountered a major breakdown due to the tripping of Guddu Thermal Power Plant at around midnight on Saturday, according to a high official.

Also, the blackout partially disrupted the telecommunication system in the country. People from different cities and towns reported a massive drop inmobile phone signals.Initial reports suggested, the Guddu Thermal Power Plant’s power system developed a technical fault at around 11:41pm on Saturday. "This caused tripping of high transmission nationwide and brought down the system frequency from 50 to zero in less than one second.

The drop infrequency caused tripping of power stations nationwide," Federal Minister for Power, Petroleum and Natural Resources Omar Ayub Khan confirmed on his official Twitter handle. Simultaneously working of almost all the power production houses nationwide is a must to keep the power transmission and distribution system operational due to some technicality in Pakistan. Tripping of only one major power station can cause a major breakdown in the system and a total blackout nationwide, it was learnt. The minister said he himself was present at the National Power Control Centre and was monitoring the operations for power restoration in the country.

He added that the power transmission system would be restored in phases, which might take hours. The Guddu Thermal Power Plant’s tripping caused shutdown of power system in Lahore, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Islamabad, Sargodha, Kasur, Jehlum, Karachi and several other cities and towns across the country.

NTDC Managing Director Engineer Dr Khuwaja Rafat Hussain has constituted a high-level committee to diagnose the causes of the nationwide power failure, according to the NTDC officials.They have first started restoring power supply system in the capital, Islamabad, and later on they would do so step by step nationwide. The minister reported that 25 feeders at Islamabad Zero Point had come online by the time this this news story was filed.