The investigation committee formed by the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh Limited (PGCB) has failed to find a specific reason for the recent national grid failure despite 11 days having elapsed since the incident.
PGCB Managing Director Golam Kibria told Dhaka Tribune the probe report was due to be submitted on Sunday and the investigation committee had been sent several reminders, but it failed to complete the report for unspecified reasons.
He added that the committee would submit the report within the next few days.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nazrul Hamid had said on Friday that action would be taken over the lack of awareness of the PGCB regarding the power outage. When asked about the state minister’s comment, the PGCB MD said: “Since the state minister has said this, I have nothing more to say on this matter.”
Members of the investigation committee, including committee head and PGCB Executive Director Yakub Elahi Chowdhury, could not be reached for comment by phone despite several attempts.
During a discussion on the ongoing load shedding and gas crisis on Deutsche Welle on Friday night, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said the grid failure was not the result of a technical fault but had been caused by mismanagement on the part of PGCB.
“The demand for power was higher than production on the day. The desk warned the authorities concerned to cut off power or the system would crash, but they continued, and the result was the blackout. I have identified several people who did not listen to the warnings; we will sack them and take action by [Sunday],” he said.
Regarding his earlier statement that there would be no power shortage in October, Nasrul Hamid said there would not have been any power problems in the month if not for the damage to the transmission line caused by the grid failure.
On October 4, there was a near complete nationwide blackout when the national grid failed. After about seven hours, the electricity supply resumed. The PGCB formed a 6-member investigation committee under the leadership of Executive Director Yakub Elahi Chowdhury the same day.
The members of the committee visited power plants in Ghorashal, Ashuganj and Sirajganj on October 5.
Yakub Elahi Chowdhury said that after inspection it was found that the blackout had originated in the direction of Ghorasal, Ashuganj and Sirajganj and there was overload tripping from these areas which would be analyzed.