Anisul Islam Noor :
The recent power grid failure was the result of the negligence and the grid system operators’ miscalculation, investigators said.
Though it primarily seemed that a tornado caused the grid disaster, damaging a transmission tower of the Ashuganj-Sirajganj transmission line on May 2, the clients of 38 districts experienced the power outage the subsequent day. It clearly suggests that the storm had no direct or instant role in the mass power outage.
According to sources related to investigation, the tower of the Ashuganj-Sirajganj transmission line that collapsed in a storm on May 2 did not contribute to the grid failure at all.
They said that the grid system operators diverted the extra current that was meant to be transmitted through the broken Ashuganj-Sirajganj grid line to another transmission line of Ishwardi-Ghorashal. However, both the lines had a peak capacity of 230kV.
As a result, the miscalculated extra load on the Iswardi-Ghorashal grid line forced it to go out of service the following day at 11.20 AM.
Negligence and mismanagement of the respective operators were the cause of the grid failure which could have been easily avoided if the capacity of the new line were considered prior to the load-shifting, the sources said.
The grid disaster that occurred on 2nd May at 11.20 am forced blackout in as many as 38 districts of the country’s southern and the northern parts comprising Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna and Barisal divisions. The grid failure also led to a halt in the power import from India and generation of electricity in many power plants of the country.
The countrymen faced another massive blackout due to a grid malfunction on 1st November of 2014. Since then, the Power Division had been taking many steps to make the grid secure and reliable but, all of them flopped in the recent grid failure exposing that the grid was not secure and reliable.
According to Power Development Board (PDB), there are 37 power plants in Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna and Barisal divisions having a joint capacity of 2,665 MW of electricity. The recent grid failure forced all these power plants to reduce their production to 844 MW, ultimately resulting in the dark till noon of 2nd May.
Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), the responsible authority for the operation of the national grid system, has formed a four members committee headed by PGCB Chief Engineer (Transmission-2) Kamrul Hasan.
One of the transmission lines tripped due to a storm and the other one got damaged suddenly, and now we are writing a report mentioning the causes of the sudden failure of the second transmission line and it would be submitted to the authority in due time once we finish writing ups.
PGCB Managing Director Masum Al Beruni said that the committee finished its investigation and the reasons behind the grid failure would be known with the submission of the report.
The recent power grid failure was the result of the negligence and the grid system operators’ miscalculation, investigators said.
Though it primarily seemed that a tornado caused the grid disaster, damaging a transmission tower of the Ashuganj-Sirajganj transmission line on May 2, the clients of 38 districts experienced the power outage the subsequent day. It clearly suggests that the storm had no direct or instant role in the mass power outage.
According to sources related to investigation, the tower of the Ashuganj-Sirajganj transmission line that collapsed in a storm on May 2 did not contribute to the grid failure at all.
They said that the grid system operators diverted the extra current that was meant to be transmitted through the broken Ashuganj-Sirajganj grid line to another transmission line of Ishwardi-Ghorashal. However, both the lines had a peak capacity of 230kV.
As a result, the miscalculated extra load on the Iswardi-Ghorashal grid line forced it to go out of service the following day at 11.20 AM.
Negligence and mismanagement of the respective operators were the cause of the grid failure which could have been easily avoided if the capacity of the new line were considered prior to the load-shifting, the sources said.
The grid disaster that occurred on 2nd May at 11.20 am forced blackout in as many as 38 districts of the country’s southern and the northern parts comprising Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna and Barisal divisions. The grid failure also led to a halt in the power import from India and generation of electricity in many power plants of the country.
The countrymen faced another massive blackout due to a grid malfunction on 1st November of 2014. Since then, the Power Division had been taking many steps to make the grid secure and reliable but, all of them flopped in the recent grid failure exposing that the grid was not secure and reliable.
According to Power Development Board (PDB), there are 37 power plants in Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna and Barisal divisions having a joint capacity of 2,665 MW of electricity. The recent grid failure forced all these power plants to reduce their production to 844 MW, ultimately resulting in the dark till noon of 2nd May.
Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), the responsible authority for the operation of the national grid system, has formed a four members committee headed by PGCB Chief Engineer (Transmission-2) Kamrul Hasan.
One of the transmission lines tripped due to a storm and the other one got damaged suddenly, and now we are writing a report mentioning the causes of the sudden failure of the second transmission line and it would be submitted to the authority in due time once we finish writing ups.
PGCB Managing Director Masum Al Beruni said that the committee finished its investigation and the reasons behind the grid failure would be known with the submission of the report.
