Islamabad: A major power breakdown occurred in the southern part of Pakistan, which will be restored to “normalcy” by night, Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan said in a press conference on Thursday.
Southern parts of the country, mainly Sindh, Punjab, and Balochistan, were left without power on Thursday after an accidental fault was detected in the national grid’s southern transmission system.
The Ministry of Energy said in a tweet that several power plants in the south were 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.”
مُلک کے جنوبی ٹرانسمیشن سسٹم میں حادثاتی خرابی کے باعث متعدد جنوبی پاور پلانٹس مرحلہ وار ٹرِپ ہو رہے ہیں جس سے مُلک کے جنوبی حصے میں بجلی کی ترسیل میں رکاوٹ آ رہی ہے۔وزارتِ توانائی پوری تندہی سے خرابی کی وجہ کی تفتیش کر رہی ہے اور جلد از جلد بجلی کے نظام کو مکمل بحال کر لیاجائگا
— Ministry of Energy-Power Division, Government of P (@MoWP15) October 13, 2022
Soon after, Minister Dastagir held a press conference and said that nearly 8,000 megawatts of power went offline at around 9 AM.
“However, the government has restored 4,700 MW. Restarting power plants will consume time. Therefore, the complete resolution of the problem will take a few more hours.”
He said that due to 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.
He added that electricity had been completely restored in Multan and Faisalabad. He said: “There was 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.”
Media reports suggest that generation from Guddu Thermal Power Station in Kashmore has halted due to technical failure. The 600MW and 747MW units at the power plant are not operating due to technical faults.
Separately, Imran Rana, Spokesperson of K-Electric, confirmed that multiple areas of Karachi were out of electricity. He said that the recovery process had started, and full recovery might take approximately 5 hours.
پاور اپڈیٹ2: وقت صبح 1130 بجے 13 اکتوبر
وزارتِ توانائی کی اطلاعات کے مطابق ملک کے ٹرانسمیشن سسٹم میں فالٹ سے مختلف شہروں میں بجلی فراہمی میں تعطل پیش آیا ہے۔ کے ای سے منسلک علاقوں میں بھی فراہمی متاثر ہونے کی خبر موصول ہوئی ہیں_ (1/2)
@KElectricPk— Imran Rana, Spokesperson, K-Electric (@imranrana21) October 13, 2022