Bangladesh starts probe into national grid failure
Oct 05, 2022
Dhaka [Bangladesh], October 5 : An investigation committee of the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) started its probe on Wednesday to identify the reasons behind the blackout for 7-8 hours.
The grid which failed at 2:04 pm local time on Tuesday caused the widespread blackout, barring some northern parts of the country, Dhaka Tribune reported.
Chief of the investigation body and executive director (P&D) of the PGCB, Yeakub Elahi Chowdhury said, "We started our probe this morning to identify the possible causes behind the national grid disaster and also the exact point of the incident."
The PGCB formed a five-member investigation committee, headed by Yeakub Elahi Chowdhury, following the national grid failure, reported Dhaka Tribune citing UNB.
Later, an experienced individual who had been working as a consultant with grid systems locally and internationally was co-opted into the committee.
According to Dhaka Tribune citing official sources said the investigation committee was given three days to complete the probe.
Meanwhile, State Minister Nasrul Hamid instructed the ministry of power, energy and mineral resources to form two more investigation committees to identify the cause of the grid failure and also gave recommendations to avert any further disasters in the future.
After relentless efforts, the power supply was restored in the entire country, starting from the Kalyanpur grid sub-station and then restored power supply to the president's official residence, Bangabhaban, and the prime minister's official residence, Ganabhaban, at 5 pm.
Gradually, power supply was restored in other parts of the area, and within 10:30 pm the entire country had electricity, reported Dhaka Tribune.
On Tuesday, the transmission line tripped somewhere in the eastern part of the country, especially in districts east of the Jamuna river, according to the officials at Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB).
Bangladesh's biggest national power grid failure incident happened on November 1, 2014, when the entire country was without power for 17 hours.
Even in May 2017, a similar incident of grid failure happened in 32 districts.
