February 24, 2013

Blackout in Pakistan

Approximately two hours ago, Pakistan suffered from a major power failure. More than 80% of the country was without power. The cause of the power failure according to WAPDA (Water and Power Development Authority) was HUBCO (a power plant located near Karachi). HUBCO contributes 1200MW of electricity to the national power grid. Due to a technical fault, the power plant failed causing all of the load to be shifted to Mangla and Tarbela power houses. Mangla contributes 600MW to the national power grid while Tarbela contributes 1800MW. When they were overloaded with this new power burden, they also tripped causing a nationwide blackout. As of right now (2:00 am PST), WAPDA is gradually restoring the power supply to all affected areas. Embedded below are tweets providing information about the power failure in Pakistan.