LAHORE, Oct 1: Power experts have expressed their fear that if Wapda fails to take necessary operational protection measures, the country may experience yet another countrywide power breakdown.
Requesting anonymity, they were commenting on the Wapda chairman’s press conference held on Friday while talking to Dawn.
They said lack of technical coordination among senior officers of the power wing had resulted in a complete failure of the Wapda’s power protection system. They said if Wapda engineers at the National Power Control Centre/NPCC/ had taken immediate operational measures, the countrywide power breakdown could have been avoided. They said soon after tripping of the high tension 500KV transmission line between Rawat and Ghazi Barotha due to heavy load the Wapda engineers should have immediately offloaded the system and switched off Tarbela and Mangla power houses. But due to lack of technical coordination and communication, the system was not offloaded and the second 500 KV line between Gatti and Barotha tripped which resulted in switching off the two main hydropower stations of the country, they said. This caused a country-wide power breakdown ranging from six to 12 hours resulting in a loss of billions of rupees.
They said it was sad that the Wapda chairman’s tussle with the federal water and power minister and member power was adversely affecting the working of the authority.
They said there was no doubt that the Wapda’s entire transmission system was overloaded as no major renovation and upgradation of the system had taken place for the past many years. Had Wapda set up some new 500KV grid stations along with a high tension line between Gatti and Muzaffargarh during the past couple of years, the countrywide power breakdown could have been avoided, they said. They said the federal government more to blame for the situation as it had not provided adequate funds to Wapda for strengthening its transmission system and making efforts to increase thermal power generation in the private sector.
They said that not only primary but secondary transmission lines and 11KV system for distribution of power to consumers also needed extensive repairs to avoid power breakdowns next summer. Without necessary transmission the proposed import of power from Iran would be an exercise in futility, they said.