Power supply near normal
Tuesday, 18 December 2007
FE Report
Power supply situation returned to near normalcy Monday after restoration of electricity generation in all the power plants that tripped due to collapse of the national grid Saturday last.
The Power Development Board (PDB) Monday supplied 3302 megawatt (MW) of electricity against a demand for 3700 MW.
All the power plants ceased to function Saturday with the collapse of the national grid leaving the country without electricity for more than three hours.
Power division officials said the power units could restore generation of 70 per cent of electricity by Saturday night.
On Sunday, the board supplied 3080 MW of power in the country.
"The situation came back to normalcy Sunday as the demand for power was poor due to government holiday," a power division official said.
The national grid had failed after Ashuganj grid substation, the second largest power generating plants, tripped due to technical fault. This had resulted in sudden rise in load on other power plants and transmission lines, which resulted in the automatic shut down of the remaining power plants one after another.
Negotiations began In an urgent move, PDB member (planning) DK Podder and some engineers went to Ashuganj Saturday for investigating the plant failure.
"The reason of the national grid failure will be confirmed after getting reports from the investigation team that visited Ashuganj," an official source said.
Some Ashuganj power plant officials suspected that trouble might have been caused by a dove. But experts have rejected such suspicion saying that it is not possible for a small bird to trigger power disruption in a high-voltage transmission line.
In November, the country suffered a complete blackout for several hours as all power stations tripped under impact of the severe hurricane Sidr.
The existing seven-member probe body, formed in November to investigate the power failure after the Sidr, will also look into Saturday's incident.
Currently, a total of 20 power units are out of operation due to technical faults or for maintenance purposes.
Power division sources said most of the power plants are ageing and in bad shape.
The power division has been continuing power generation through repair and replacement of parts of those power plants.
On an average, around 18 power units always remain out of operation for overhauling or maintenance.
Power supply situation returned to near normalcy Monday after restoration of electricity generation in all the power plants that tripped due to collapse of the national grid Saturday last.
The Power Development Board (PDB) Monday supplied 3302 megawatt (MW) of electricity against a demand for 3700 MW.
All the power plants ceased to function Saturday with the collapse of the national grid leaving the country without electricity for more than three hours.
Power division officials said the power units could restore generation of 70 per cent of electricity by Saturday night.
On Sunday, the board supplied 3080 MW of power in the country.
"The situation came back to normalcy Sunday as the demand for power was poor due to government holiday," a power division official said.
The national grid had failed after Ashuganj grid substation, the second largest power generating plants, tripped due to technical fault. This had resulted in sudden rise in load on other power plants and transmission lines, which resulted in the automatic shut down of the remaining power plants one after another.
Negotiations began In an urgent move, PDB member (planning) DK Podder and some engineers went to Ashuganj Saturday for investigating the plant failure.
"The reason of the national grid failure will be confirmed after getting reports from the investigation team that visited Ashuganj," an official source said.
Some Ashuganj power plant officials suspected that trouble might have been caused by a dove. But experts have rejected such suspicion saying that it is not possible for a small bird to trigger power disruption in a high-voltage transmission line.
In November, the country suffered a complete blackout for several hours as all power stations tripped under impact of the severe hurricane Sidr.
The existing seven-member probe body, formed in November to investigate the power failure after the Sidr, will also look into Saturday's incident.
Currently, a total of 20 power units are out of operation due to technical faults or for maintenance purposes.
Power division sources said most of the power plants are ageing and in bad shape.
The power division has been continuing power generation through repair and replacement of parts of those power plants.
On an average, around 18 power units always remain out of operation for overhauling or maintenance.