No power for 40 mins in one-third of country

One-third of the country was without power yesterday for about 40 minutes to an hour because of a "power trip".

A power trip is when an electrical circuit becomes overloaded beyond the prescribed limit.

A power grid is a very delicate system in the sense that there must always be a perfect balance between the generation and the load or demand to maintain a constant system frequency.

The transmission line tripped at 9:04 am, leaving Rajshahi, Khulna and Barisal divisions without electricity, said ABM Badruddoza Sumon, spokesman of the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh.

Power supply to the national grid resumed after repair work was conducted. Rajshahi got its power back at around 9:40 am, Khulna at 10:07 am and Barishal at 10:30 am, Sumon said.

Although the power supply has been restored, some of the neighbourhoods don't have their power back yet, said Azharul Islam, managing director of West Zone Power Distribution Company, which supplies power to Khulna, Barishal and Faridpur.

"We can't take the full load right now," he said.

Subsequently, the Payra 1320 MW power plant stopped production for about two hours from 9:00 am to 11:00 am.

The Power Grid Company Bangladesh formed a four-member committee to identify the reason and submit a report in two days.

Earlier on November 1, 2014, the whole country went into a blackout for about 10 hours when power tripped at a substation in Bheramara in Kushtia when the 400 KV transmission line was bringing 445 MW of power from India.