National power grid trips

The national power grid partially failed yesterday evening, plunging the entire northeastern region into darkness.
Official sources said the electricity system in all the districts in the northern, western and southern regions broke down due to a glitch in the 230KV East-West Inter-connector (EWIC), the only power transmission line between the country's east and west crossing over the Jamuna.
According to reports received from the region, the tripping of the grid set off electricity black-out in many districts, including Khulna, Rajshahi, Barisal, Patuakhali, Bogra, Sirajganj and Pabna.
According to officials of the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), the double-circuit EWIC tripped at 6:22pm, which also led to the shutdown of power plants located in the northern and southwestern regions.
The 100MW Baghabari and 90MW Westmont plants and 100 KPCL plant in Khulna and 125MW unit of Barapukuria plant were among the plants that came to a grinding halt due to the grid failure.
Sources said the power transmission system was restored at first circuit of EWIC at 6:52pm while the second one came into operation at 6:54pm.
However, the operation of the power plants could not resume as of 8:00pm.
PGCB Managing Director Harunur Rashid told UNB that they were trying to ascertain the cause of the tripping of EWIC.