Power transmission system that operates on verbal instructions, research reveals

• The electricity transmission system is “very vulnerable”.
• The inquiry committee saved top spots in the system.
• The country experienced a nationwide blackout on January 23, 2023.

ISLAMABAD: The country’s electricity transmission system is operating on verbal instructions as there are no proper standard operating procedures (SOPs), according to an investigation report on last year’s nationwide blackout.

The power transmission system that transmits electricity worth 3,000 billion rupees annually is “highly vulnerable” in the report for the 20-hour blackout that hit the country on January 23, 2023.

However, the inquiry commission has interestingly cleared the throats of the top brass and held three junior officers responsible for the power collapse that had caused a colossal loss of over Rs 80 billion.

Junior officials, including two deputy directors, a shift manager and a director of the National Power Control Center (NPCC) were made scapegoats. However, Zain Ali, Deputy Managing Director (DMD) of the National Power Control System, resigned to save his skin.

When power failure hit the country, the federal cabinet took stern notice and demanded strict action against those responsible.

The country experienced a nationwide power outage on 23 January 2023 and it took about 20 hours to fully restore power to the entire NTDC network.

A four-member committee comprising Qaiser Khan, deputy managing director (P&E) NTDC, Munawar Hussain, general manager (PA) NTDC, Taqi-Ud-Din, chief engineer (Substation Design) NTDC, Husnain Arshad, Manager (C&RA) o / o Recommendation CLO NTDC.

The Board also referred to the said four member committee to conduct inquiry proceedings against the officers including Ateeq Ahmed, Assistant Manager/Shift Engineer, Mubashar Hussain, Deputy Manager/Shift Supervisor, Farooq Jan, Deputy Manager/Shift Joint Supervisor, Palwasha Khan , Deputy Manager (Shutdown) and Aijaz Ali, Chief Engineer (Network Operation)/Manager Power Control.

Pursuant to the regulation, summons was issued to the accused officers on December 21, 2023 with directions to appear before the commission on December 26, 2023 to proceed under Section 6 of the Regulation.

As a result, three of the accused police officers appeared in person before the commission of inquiry on 26 December 2023, while the remaining accused officers who were cited appeared before the commission online via video link on 27 December 2023.

The committee conducted inquiry against the officers, held responsible/partially responsible in the previous report given to this committee along with the office order and observations along with recommendations of the committee which include Ateeq Ahmed, Assistant Manager/Shift Engineer, the accused appeared before the inquiry committee on 26 December 2023 for a personal hearing.

The committee considered the charge sheet/statement of allegations, his written reply and re-affirmation of the defense reply at the personal hearing and observed that as per the investigation report, the officer was responsible for overseeing the operations of the 220 transport network and 500 kV , and he had to inform his seniors about the open position of 500 kV Moro-Rahim Yar Khan transmission line in the morning for a proper action.

However, the committee concluded that the status of the aforesaid 500 kV Moro-Rahim Yar Khan transmission line was well known to his seniors.

Regarding the system studies and their implementation regarding transmission line load capacity/stability limits under various network operating conditions, instructions should have been made by the shift supervisor to the shift engineer.

Besides, his statement that no EDP was forwarded to him, the same was validated by the previous investigation committee set up by the Board of Directors. The report says on page 16 that since he was an operator acting on the instructions of the shift supervisor, therefore, he may not be held liable. The committee is of the view that he may not be held responsible.

Mubashar Hussain, Deputy Manager / Shift Supervisor, the accused appeared before the inquiry committee on 26th December 2023 for personal hearing. He acknowledged that the system was weak with the disruption of the 500 kV Jamshoro-Dadu transmission line.

He further stated that there is no SOP related to load and transfer line switching and any such decision rests with duty shift supervisor, however he was not aware of load capacity and stability limits. In his capacity as a shift supervisor, such documents/instructions should have been obtained by him. Moreover, before the injection of wind energy, it should have considered the scenario that the 500 kV Moro-Rahim Yar Khan transmission line was in an open position.

Based on the above, the commission agrees with the conclusion of a previous commission of inquiry that the officer can be held responsible.

Farooq Jan, Deputy Manager/Joint Shift Supervisor, the accused appeared before the inquiry committee on 26th December 2023 for personal hearing. The officer admitted that the power flow in the AC corridor had to be curtailed as per the PMLTC studies and his step to reduce the power flow in the AC corridor in the first half of the night from 1,700 MW to 1,100 MW and a corresponding increase in the HVDC system from 1,200 MW to 1,700 MW documents that there was an awareness of power flow balancing in the AC/DC corridor. This means that the finding of the investigation report about his inactivity is partly wrong as he took corrective action in the first part of the shift. But his contribution was not seen in the morning operations.

Based on the above, this board of inquiry agrees with the conclusion of a previous board of inquiry that the officer can be held partially responsible.

Palwasha Khan, Deputy Director (Shutdown), the accused appeared before the inquiry committee on 27 December 2023 for personal hearing through video link as requested by her. A supplementary written reply was also submitted by the officer to the inquiry committee.

After reading the charge sheet/statement of allegations and its responses, this committee is of the opinion that the requirements for determining load capacity limits in case of interruption were not its responsibility. Furthermore, it was not associated with instantaneous power flow conditions. The inquiry committee does not agree with the finding of an earlier inquiry committee and is of the view that it may not be held responsible.

Aijaz Ali, Chief Engineer (Network Operation)/Manager Power Control), appeared before the inquiry committee as accused on 27 December 2023 for personal hearing via video link. After perusal of charge sheet/statement of allegations, his written reply and confirmation of his reply during personal hearing, the committee observed that he was responsible for all network functions as Chief Engineer (Network Operation) and Power Control Manager. It was his responsibility to prepare the indicated program of operation, taking into account the limitations of the system and the relevant missions of operations, taking into account the order of economic value.

Information on load capacity and stability was to be disseminated from his office to the lower office after receiving it from the Chief Engineer (Operational Planning).

The reply submitted by him does not satisfy the basic issue of operational error of not closing the 500 KV Moro-Rahim Yar Khan transmission line and consequent overloading on the remaining AC corridor.

The commission agrees with the finding of the previous commission of inquiry that he can be held responsible.

Originally published on The news