Ministry of Power Division on Thursday said that power transmission system has fully been restored across the country. Disruption occurred in two 500 kV transmission lines at the morning in South of Karachi has completely been cleared, said a statement issued by the Ministry. Power supply was being increased from alternative power plants which would become normal by Friday’s morning. Southern parts of the country, mainly Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan, were left without power after a fault was detected in the national grid’s southern transmission system. However, contrary to the ministry’s statement, power had not been completely restored as reports said the electricity supply from Tarbela Dam had been suspended. Earlier, the Ministry of Energy had attributed the breakdown to an “accidental fault” in the transmission system. “Several power plants in the south are tripping in phases due to an accidental fault in the country’s southern transmission system. As a result, there have been disruptions in the supply of electricity to the country’s south,” the ministry said in a tweet following reports of power outages.
At a press conference earlier in the day, Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir shared the preliminary findings of the circumstances that led to the breakdown. “This morning at 9:16am, our two 500kv lines in the south – Karachi – there was a fault in both of them. I am not calling it an accident yet, because an inquiry has yet to be conducted. […] there was a fault in them and they fell, as a result, the country’s southern region saw an electricity blackout.
“Our first priority was to isolate Karachi from it, and we were successful in doing so and we isolated Karachi from it by 9:45. By isolate, I mean that the 1,000MW that we provide to Karachi daily, was cut. But KE’s system is independently operated and is supplying electricity to [parts of] the city.” He said as a result of the two power lines in which the fault developed, parts of Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Quetta, and partially in Multan and Faisalabad experienced power breakdowns.
Dastgir added that he was personally monitoring the progress of the restoration. “As a result of this breakdown, a large part of our power plants are out of our system, around 8,000MW, of which we have restored 4,700MW,” he said. “Electricity has been completely restored in Multan and Faisalabad. There is an issue in Hyderabad, but we have restored Sepco partially till Dadu. There is also [power] connectivity in Shikarpur, and because of partial connections in Sukkur. Qesco has been restored till Sibi.”
