K-Electric issued a statement explaining that the breakdown of the power transmission from the NTDC was the main cause of the power outages in most areas of Sind, including Karachi and Baluchistan yesterday morning. Early on Sunday morning, the 500 KV from NTDC’s transmission line from Guddu/Dadu tripped due to heavy fog, which caused a sudden overload to the electrical network of K-Electric and HUBCO power plants respectively, leading to power outages. “The sudden disruption of supply from the NTDC technically trips the entire system to which the power utility/generation companies of Karachi and Sind are connected which includes KE, as a major player. This tripping had a domino effect leading to a series of outage in grids supplying power to the city. In such a scenario, our first priority is to restore our connection from the NTDC. However, that was not possible in the first instance today due to the heavy fog, therefore, KE immediately went into stand alone “Island Mode” – isolating the NTDC on a temporary and limited basis – to restore power to the city” said KE’s spokesperson.
Spokesperson KE added, “Our engineers worked diligently to power up key installations e.g. priority health services (hospitals), PAF Base, and the Quaid-e-Azam International Airport, along with some other key defence/security establishments, and were able to do so progressively within the first two hours of this breakdown.”
He said that the NTDC power transmission to Karachi was back on-line around 2:00 PM, by which time KE’s own efforts had undertaken the restoration of around 60% of city’s feeders. The spokesperson said that KE’s engineers then worked with remarkable effectiveness to synchronize KE’s system with NTDC with zero disruption, which was no small technical feat, achieving full restoration of power (around mid-day) to KE’s entire commercial footprint, which includes part of Sind and Baluchistan.
Spokesperson also said that the inclement weather in winter in the form of dense fog in tandem with low ambient temperatures adversely affects the NTDC system in the country, which is the major cause of such nationwide power breakdowns that the power consumers have faced in the recent past.
Spokesperson for KE added, “While we apologize to our consumers for the inconvenience caused by such breakdowns but we assure them that K-Electric, makes every effort to serve them with professional zeal and commitment.”