ISLAMABAD – Tuesday saw power system breaking down following the testing ofLNG based power plants in Punjab with people in different parts bravedsevere power outages.According to the Ministry of Energy, power plants in Daudkhel, Bannu,Ludewala and the Chashnupp tripped on Tuesday at 1:30 am, resulting insupply failure.
While the ministry said that supply has been restored and the 220KV NTDClines have been energised, restoration of generation will take some time“as a definite protocol has to be followed”.Whilst Chasma one and Chasma two were expected to come into system byTuesday evening, the sources said that Chasma three and four will take sometime to become operational.
It is pertinent to add that RLNG-based power plants in Haveli Bahadur Shah,Bhikki and Balloki (3,600MW) are also under testing phases and generationfrom these plants is currently not available.
Hydel generation has remained below average as water released from thereservoirs is low. In addition, new plants at Neelum-Jhelum are still intheir testing phase, and not contributing to the national grid, said theministry in a statement issued on Tuesday.
“In order to keep the system safe and to bridge the demand and supply gap,few hours of temporary load management is being introduced in alldistribution companies, stated the ministry. The introduction of loadmanagement by DISCOs is proportional to the losses.
“Consumers are being informed via SMS, local sub divisional offices, RoshanPakistan App and others means regarding the load management in their areas.Authorities are closely monitoring the situation and are in close contactwith the management at these plants.”
“The consumers will be provided relief as soon as any plant startsgeneration. The Power Division will also post updated information regardingthe situation.”The Power Division appealed to the consumers to adopt energy conservationpractices so that the maximum number of consumers fewer electricityinterruptions.