Worst-ever power blackout grips country
Saturday, 17 November 2007
FE Report
The country experienced the worst-ever power blackout Friday following the shutdown of country's all power units resulting in the collapse of the National Power Grid (NPG).
First, the NPG became inoperative at about 8:0am Friday following a technical fault caused due to a high voltage, official sources said.
The Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), responsible for operating the power transmission system across the country, restored partially the power supply at around 9:20 am, supplying only 550 megawatt (mw) of electricity. Another 100mw of power was added to the Grid before 6:0pm on the day. All power units in operation, on an average supply 3500mw of electricity daily
During the time, a total of 180mw of power was supplied to the capital city, including the areas like Bangabhaban, Dhaka Cantonment, and parts of Dhanmondi, Kajla, Siddirgonj and Narinda.
But the power supply deteriorated again at 6:20pm Friday as the NPG could supply only 245mw of power against the country's normal generation of nearly 3500mw. Most part of Dhaka city and rest of the country were going without power until 9.15pm Friday.
Senior officials of the state-run power agencies at a press conference on Friday evening termed the second phase of supply disruption as an 'abnormal rise' in the electricity demand.
The PGCB managing director ABM Harunur Rashid informed the newsmen at city's Biddyut Bhaban that the demand for electricity increased to 1500mw with a span of 30 minutes.
He also told the newsmen that the transmission and distribution systems were badly affected in places including Comilla, Feni, Noakhali and Laxmipur.
However, acting Chairman of the Power Development Board (PDB) M Shawkat Ali told the press conference that the generation and supply of electricity would go up to 550mw or more by 12 midnight.
"We could have supplied at least 2200mw of electricity by the end of Friday had not the second phase disruption happened," he said.
The PDB acting chairman also expressed the hope that the NPG would be able to supply 2200 mw of electricity within the next 72 hours.
The press conference was told that the power supply suffered heavy disruption from Thursday evening when the cyclonic storm SIDR started pounding the coastal areas, consequently tripping the local electricity grids of the districts due to snapped electric wires and damage to sub stations, officials said.
A total of 10 power stations were shut in phases between 9:0pm Thursday and 3:0am Friday due to the SIDR.
The remaining power generation units tripped one by one until 8:0am Friday.
The Chairman of the Rural Electrification Board (REB) Habib Mollah said at least 24 electricity transmission towers of the Board were badly affected in many places, including Pirojpur and Bagerhat districts due to the cyclone.
It will take at least a week to repair the transmission towers, he noted.
Meanwhile, unprecedented power outage caused immense sufferings to the people in Dhaka and elsewhere of the country.
Most petrol pumps and CNG-filling stations in and around the capital remained inoperative mainly due to want of power supply, pump operators said.
The Water and Sewerage Supply Authority (WASA) had kept its water supply running partially in the capital with the help of its own generators after the disruption in power supply, the WASA sources said.
But, most of the city dwellers had to face immense water crisis, as they could not pump water from the reserve tanks to overhead tanks due to lack of power supply.
Residents of multi-stored apartments/buildings had to collect waters from their reserve tanks for meeting its minimum requirement.
The patients in different hospitals and clinics having no generators of their own had to suffer became of the power blackout.
The country experienced the worst-ever power blackout Friday following the shutdown of country's all power units resulting in the collapse of the National Power Grid (NPG).
First, the NPG became inoperative at about 8:0am Friday following a technical fault caused due to a high voltage, official sources said.
The Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), responsible for operating the power transmission system across the country, restored partially the power supply at around 9:20 am, supplying only 550 megawatt (mw) of electricity. Another 100mw of power was added to the Grid before 6:0pm on the day. All power units in operation, on an average supply 3500mw of electricity daily
During the time, a total of 180mw of power was supplied to the capital city, including the areas like Bangabhaban, Dhaka Cantonment, and parts of Dhanmondi, Kajla, Siddirgonj and Narinda.
But the power supply deteriorated again at 6:20pm Friday as the NPG could supply only 245mw of power against the country's normal generation of nearly 3500mw. Most part of Dhaka city and rest of the country were going without power until 9.15pm Friday.
Senior officials of the state-run power agencies at a press conference on Friday evening termed the second phase of supply disruption as an 'abnormal rise' in the electricity demand.
The PGCB managing director ABM Harunur Rashid informed the newsmen at city's Biddyut Bhaban that the demand for electricity increased to 1500mw with a span of 30 minutes.
He also told the newsmen that the transmission and distribution systems were badly affected in places including Comilla, Feni, Noakhali and Laxmipur.
However, acting Chairman of the Power Development Board (PDB) M Shawkat Ali told the press conference that the generation and supply of electricity would go up to 550mw or more by 12 midnight.
"We could have supplied at least 2200mw of electricity by the end of Friday had not the second phase disruption happened," he said.
The PDB acting chairman also expressed the hope that the NPG would be able to supply 2200 mw of electricity within the next 72 hours.
The press conference was told that the power supply suffered heavy disruption from Thursday evening when the cyclonic storm SIDR started pounding the coastal areas, consequently tripping the local electricity grids of the districts due to snapped electric wires and damage to sub stations, officials said.
A total of 10 power stations were shut in phases between 9:0pm Thursday and 3:0am Friday due to the SIDR.
The remaining power generation units tripped one by one until 8:0am Friday.
The Chairman of the Rural Electrification Board (REB) Habib Mollah said at least 24 electricity transmission towers of the Board were badly affected in many places, including Pirojpur and Bagerhat districts due to the cyclone.
It will take at least a week to repair the transmission towers, he noted.
Meanwhile, unprecedented power outage caused immense sufferings to the people in Dhaka and elsewhere of the country.
Most petrol pumps and CNG-filling stations in and around the capital remained inoperative mainly due to want of power supply, pump operators said.
The Water and Sewerage Supply Authority (WASA) had kept its water supply running partially in the capital with the help of its own generators after the disruption in power supply, the WASA sources said.
But, most of the city dwellers had to face immense water crisis, as they could not pump water from the reserve tanks to overhead tanks due to lack of power supply.
Residents of multi-stored apartments/buildings had to collect waters from their reserve tanks for meeting its minimum requirement.
The patients in different hospitals and clinics having no generators of their own had to suffer became of the power blackout.