ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Energy said on Thursday that the electricity transmission system was “completely restored” across Pakistan after a major 12-hour power breakdown that affected a large part of the country.
The ministry said the disturbance in two 500kv lines in the south of Karachi was resolved. “Electricity supply is being increased from alternative power plants, which will return to normal by Friday morning,” the ministry tweeted.
بجلی کی ترسیل کا نظام پورے ملک میں مکمل بحال کر دیا گیا ہے
آج صبح کراچی کے جنوب میں 5سو کے-وی دو لائنوں میں آنے والےخلل کو دور کر دیا ہے
بجلی کے متبادل کارخانوں سے بجلی کی رسد بڑھائی جا رہی ہے جو کہ جمعتہ المبارک کی صبح تک معمول پر آجائے گی pic.twitter.com/NIRWaWc4Cz— Ministry of Energy (@MoWP15) October 13, 2022
Southern parts of the country, mainly Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan, were left without power after a fault was detected in the national grid’s southern transmission system.
However, some local channels reported that power was still not restored to large parts of Karachi, including, Gulistan-e-Johar, Malir, Gulshan-e-Maymar, Gulshan-e-Hadeed, Landhi and several other areas.
In a statement, the K-Electric spokesperson said that the power supply to Karachi was restored in a phase-wise manner following tripping in the transmission lines of the National Grid on Thursday.
The Ministry of Energy earlier said that “accidental faults” in the southern transmission system led to the outages.
“Several power plants in the south are 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,” the ministry said in a tweet following reports of power outages.
Later, Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan, in a press conference was hopeful that electricity would be fully restored “to normalcy” by tonight and announced that power had begun returning to parts of southern Punjab.
“We will restore the system between Maghrib and Isha,” said the minister in a press conference. He added that an inquiry team has been formed headed by GM Technical NTDC to investigate the matter which will submit its report within five days.
The minister told reporters that due to the breakdown a shortfall of 8,000 megwatts emerged, adding that at least 4,700 megawatts have been restored.
Khan said that it will take a few hours to restore the plants that have tripped and was hopeful that plants providing electricity to Karachi will also be restored.
