Govt to overhaul power transmission system

Islamabad: Minister for Energy Khurram Dastgir on Tuesday said that the government would overhaul the power transmission system which would include a safety audit of all transmission lines across the country to avert any future power breakdown.  

“We are working on a mechanism under which complete power shutdown can be avoided by insulating the main point of breakdown from the network of transmission lines spread across the country,” said the Minister while briefing the newsmen in Islamabad on Tuesday about the steps taken by the government in the aftermath of power breakdown in the country yesterday.                                       

 Dastagir said a proposal would soon be moved to set up a black start facility in the center of the country for this purpose so that all burden is not placed on Tarbela and Mangla dams as it was observed yesterday during restoration of power that the synchronization of Mangla and Tarbela dams took a long time and thus caused delay in restoring the system.                                                                              

Khurram Dastgir Khan commended the efforts undertook by the National Transmission and Dispatch Company, Power Division and WAPDA for restoring the power supply.  

He said despite the extensive breakdown, there were some areas in the federal capital and Peshawar where the electricity remained available all the time. Similarly, there was no disruption in power in the flood hit areas of Sindh and Balochistan.   

The Minister for Energy said the exact reason of the technical challenge that was experienced in the North and South transmission line at 7.30 am yesterday had yet not been determined. He added that a three member committee headed by Minister of State for Petroleum would probe into the matter and present its report in seven days.

Khurram Dastgir said that the nuclear power plants in Karachi and Chashma would require forty-eight to seventy-two hours to come to the system and that process has been started.

He said the coal power plants are also required forty-eight hours. Sahiwal and Engro Thar coal units have been synchronized and soon they will start producing electricity. He said there will be some shortage of electricity in the next forty-eight hours. Therefore, there will be a limited load shedding but the industrial sector will be exempted from it. 

The Minister for Energy said that the transmission system remained safe from this disturbance in system.

He also emphatically stated there is no shortage of fuel and it is available in sufficient quantity to produce electricity.