Almost entire country is without power right now, mainly due to a major (yet to be ascertained) power line on national grid tripping that trigged the country wide electricity outage.
Federal Energy Minister Omar Ayub in a tweet said the blackout was caused after the frequency in the national power distribution system suddenly fell from 50 to zero. — Reuters/File
A massive power breakdown plunged the entire country into darkness minutes before midnight on Saturday, Energy Minister Omar Ayub confirmed in a statement.
The blackout was initially reported on social media by residents of major urban centres such as Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Multan, as well as other towns and cities across the country.
According to Ayub, the power breakdown was caused after the frequency in the national power distribution system suddenly fell from 50 to zero.
He said the reason for the frequency dropping was being investigated, adding that attempts were being made to fire up the Tarbela power station which will lead to a sequential restoration of power supply.
“People are urged to remain patient,” the minister wrote.
Ayub said all technical teams had reached their respective stations, adding that he was personally supervising the restoration work as the federal power minister.
He said citizens would be kept updated on the restoration efforts periodically.
Some time later, the Ministry of Energy spokesperson, tweeting from the ministry’s official Twitter handle, said that according to initial reports, the Guddu power plant developed a fault at 11:41pm on Saturday night.
“The fault caused the country’s high transmission lines to trip, which in turn caused the system frequency to drop from 50 to 0 in less than a second.
The drop in frequency caused power plants to shut down.”
The spokesperson added that the units of Tarbela and Warsak power house had been fired up, adding that power was being restored to the transmission system.
“Systematic restoration of power will be initiated soon,” they said. “Once the initial frequency is met, the restoration work speeds up.”
Earlier, Federal Information Minister Shibli Faraz had said that the breakdown had been caused by a “technical fault” in the NTDC system. “System is being restored,” he tweeted.
Special assistant to the prime minister Shahbaz Gill said that the energy minister, Ayub, and his entire team were working on the issue. He said citizens would be updated on the situation soon.
This is a developing story that is being updated as the situation evolves. Initial reports in the media can sometimes be inaccurate. We will strive to ensure timeliness and accuracy by relying on credible sources such as concerned, qualified authorities and our staff reporters.
