ISLAMABAD - Blaming the interim connectivity of Port Qasim Coal Power Plant to the national grid for the power breakdown in the port city of Karachi, K-Electric has requested the NTDC to carry out a complete system relay coordination study to avert similar situation in future.

However, spokesman NEPRA said that the regulatory authority has taken serious notice of another major breakdown in the city of Karachi that occurred on 12.11.2018 and directed K-Electric to provide immediately a detailed report in this regard. Responding to the notice K-electric spokesman said that they have already intimated NEPRA via its letter one day a head (November 12) of the notice regarding abrupt disconnection of power supply to Karachi from the national grid.

NEPRA spokesman said that according to media reports, the city of Karachi witnessed another major breakdown in the early hours of Monday i.e. 12-11-2018 caused due to closure of Bin Qasim Power Plant resulting into the tripping of high tension line and KE’s isolation from the national grid.

The event of power breakdown caused inconvenience and people of Karachi suffered from long duration power outages. Further, it was reported that 80% of city was affected including Gulistan-e-Jaohar, Gulshan Iqbal, Nazimabad, Bahadurabad, Liaquatabad, Mahmudabad, Saddar and other areas. It has also been highlighted that it’s the 5th breakdown within a time period of two months, said the spokesman.

NEPRA spokesman said that the Authority has serious concern on the prevailing situation in respect of poor performance of KE’s network. In view of foregoing, KE has been directed to provide the detailed report regarding aforementioned power breakdown along with status of preventive and corrective steps taken by it within three days.

Meanwhile, spokesman K-Electric said that Bin Qasim Power Plant has nothing to do with breakdown because frequent tripping events of NTDC circuits during high humidity under the interim connectivity of Port Qasim Coal Power Plant generation, resulting in sudden disconnection from NTDC - causing serious problems to KE. The spokesman said that KE also exported power for few hours to initialize Port Qasim Coal Power Plant connected to the national grid.

It is pertinent to mention here that Bin Qasim Power Plant is providing electricity to the KE areas while newly built Port Qasim coal power plant was constructed under CPEC and is connected to national grid on interim basis. Besides, the spokesman said that tripping in NTDC system due to adverse weather conditions caused roll over effect resulting in outage in various parts of the city on Monday.

The letter explains that KE’s Bin Qasim Power Station II and Korangi Combined Cycle Power Plant landed safely in island mode ensuring earliest possible restoration of power to the city. Moreover, all strategic installations falling in affected areas were restored on priority.

The power utility has also taken up the matter of frequent tripping events of NTDC circuits during high humidity under the interim connectivity of Port Qasim Coal Power Plant generation, resulting in sudden disconnection from NTDC - causing serious problems to KE. NTDC has been requested to carry out a complete system relay coordination study along with a meeting of all stakeholders to formulate a joint strategy to avert similar situation in future.