National power grid collapse and 'dove theory'
Wednesday, 19 December 2007
Shamsul Huq Zahid
Last Saturday's national power grid failure that had come from nowhere at around 11.45 am brought business activities and production in mills and factories to halt for hours together, caused immense sufferings to hospital patients and residents across the country.
But the incident did come as a blessing to an injured dove found in the immediate vicinity of the Aushganj thermal power plant the shutdown of which had triggered the collapse of the national power grid. The officials of the plant are, reportedly, feeding and treating the cute little bird. However, the magnanimity being shown by the officials is not without a motive. They are trying to present the dove in question as the villain of the piece. But the bird is not supposed to feel disturbed by such an unfounded allegation and should be rather happy with the generosity now being shown to it by the officials!
The 'dove theory' of the power plant officials goes like this: At around 11.45 am last Saturday, all the units of the Ashuganj power plant were shut down immediately following a sound of an explosion at the 132 KV base-bar. The dove was found lying on the ground injured near the place of occurrence. The accident might have been caused by a metal-wire being carried by the flying bird.
But power experts have ruled out such a possibility saying that a tiny bird like the dove in question is supposed to be charred to death instantly in an explosion of high magnitude that generally happens in high tension lines. However, one cannot immediately dismiss the possibility of the dove's involvement in the accident.
Shutting down of on-stream power plants for technical reasons is a common event. It does happen even in rich and technologically developed countries. So, closure of the units of Ashuganj thermal power plants for reasons, technical or otherwise, was nothing unusual. The collapse of the national grid due to the mismatch between demand for, and supply of, power because of the Ashuganj plant shutdown, too, was nothing abnormal.
But the problem lies with the duration of the total power blackout. The devastating cyclone, codenamed, Sidr, caused serious damage to power installations and transmission and distribution lines in the coastal districts but the entire country had to remain without power for nearly two days. On last Saturday, it took nearly 12 hours to restore power supply, even partially.
Why should the power stations unaffected by technical faults take hours or even days to resume operation in the event of national grid failure? The authorities concerned do need to give their reply to this question that the power subscribers might be wiling to ask.
The tripping of a power plant did happen in the past but it had never caused power outage to such a great extent. Restoration of power supply, apparently, had been prompt and efficient earlier.
The two consecutive national grid failure and sufferings associated with those do, actually, reveal the dismal state of the country's power sector. The high power deficit is an old story. That the last government did nothing to generate even a megawatt of power during its five-year tenure is also a much discussed issue. But the recent power blackouts have revealed the poor state of the power transmission system though a lot of donors' funds have already been spent for its improvement. Besides, a separate entity called, the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh Limited, has been created to ensure smooth transmission of power across the country.
In this age of automated retrieval of systems, restoring power supply within a short time in the event of grid failures is not a big deal. But, it seems, the problem lies with ageing power plants that take several hours to get re-started in case of their shutdown due to grid failure.
The government should put in place a fallback system so that power supply can be restored immediately to the all-important capital city and industrial zones in the event of a major breakdown in the national grid. But much would depend on the improvement of the country's power generation capacity. The present interim administration has successfully enticed some local private entrepreneurs to install small power plants. But compared to the existing deficit and the rising demand for power, the installed capacity of these generation units is extremely meagre. What the country needs at the moment are bigger power plants the implementation of which usually takes several years. The people had great expectation that the present interim administration would be able to start implementation of some big power projects that would help gradual exit of the old and dilapidated power units frequently encountering mechanical and other technical troubles.
Last Saturday's national power grid failure that had come from nowhere at around 11.45 am brought business activities and production in mills and factories to halt for hours together, caused immense sufferings to hospital patients and residents across the country.
But the incident did come as a blessing to an injured dove found in the immediate vicinity of the Aushganj thermal power plant the shutdown of which had triggered the collapse of the national power grid. The officials of the plant are, reportedly, feeding and treating the cute little bird. However, the magnanimity being shown by the officials is not without a motive. They are trying to present the dove in question as the villain of the piece. But the bird is not supposed to feel disturbed by such an unfounded allegation and should be rather happy with the generosity now being shown to it by the officials!
The 'dove theory' of the power plant officials goes like this: At around 11.45 am last Saturday, all the units of the Ashuganj power plant were shut down immediately following a sound of an explosion at the 132 KV base-bar. The dove was found lying on the ground injured near the place of occurrence. The accident might have been caused by a metal-wire being carried by the flying bird.
But power experts have ruled out such a possibility saying that a tiny bird like the dove in question is supposed to be charred to death instantly in an explosion of high magnitude that generally happens in high tension lines. However, one cannot immediately dismiss the possibility of the dove's involvement in the accident.
Shutting down of on-stream power plants for technical reasons is a common event. It does happen even in rich and technologically developed countries. So, closure of the units of Ashuganj thermal power plants for reasons, technical or otherwise, was nothing unusual. The collapse of the national grid due to the mismatch between demand for, and supply of, power because of the Ashuganj plant shutdown, too, was nothing abnormal.
But the problem lies with the duration of the total power blackout. The devastating cyclone, codenamed, Sidr, caused serious damage to power installations and transmission and distribution lines in the coastal districts but the entire country had to remain without power for nearly two days. On last Saturday, it took nearly 12 hours to restore power supply, even partially.
Why should the power stations unaffected by technical faults take hours or even days to resume operation in the event of national grid failure? The authorities concerned do need to give their reply to this question that the power subscribers might be wiling to ask.
The tripping of a power plant did happen in the past but it had never caused power outage to such a great extent. Restoration of power supply, apparently, had been prompt and efficient earlier.
The two consecutive national grid failure and sufferings associated with those do, actually, reveal the dismal state of the country's power sector. The high power deficit is an old story. That the last government did nothing to generate even a megawatt of power during its five-year tenure is also a much discussed issue. But the recent power blackouts have revealed the poor state of the power transmission system though a lot of donors' funds have already been spent for its improvement. Besides, a separate entity called, the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh Limited, has been created to ensure smooth transmission of power across the country.
In this age of automated retrieval of systems, restoring power supply within a short time in the event of grid failures is not a big deal. But, it seems, the problem lies with ageing power plants that take several hours to get re-started in case of their shutdown due to grid failure.
The government should put in place a fallback system so that power supply can be restored immediately to the all-important capital city and industrial zones in the event of a major breakdown in the national grid. But much would depend on the improvement of the country's power generation capacity. The present interim administration has successfully enticed some local private entrepreneurs to install small power plants. But compared to the existing deficit and the rising demand for power, the installed capacity of these generation units is extremely meagre. What the country needs at the moment are bigger power plants the implementation of which usually takes several years. The people had great expectation that the present interim administration would be able to start implementation of some big power projects that would help gradual exit of the old and dilapidated power units frequently encountering mechanical and other technical troubles.