Load shedding in the north
Supplying power
through a single line to a vast region like the north was not pragmatic since the supply gets far too higher creating excessive pressure on the line
Tuesdays grid failure has severely disrupted power supply in the countrys northern region. It had forced the people of some 37 districts under Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna and Barisal divisions to suffer immeasurably.
However, the northern districts of the country have become evidently vulnerable since only a single supply line is currently in function in the place of two. Not only have the regular hours of daily load shedding increased, the shortage will likely get prolonged along the lengthy span of hot summer months. In the post-failure hours the entire system is reported to have become unstable and according to the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), it had a tough time to manage and make it functional again.
Now, supplying power through a single line to a vast region like the north was not pragmatic since the supply gets far too higher creating excessive pressure on the line. Second, though the second line was badly hit by a recent storm and damaged, so a substitute backup line should have been existed against the reality of such storms, floods and cyclones in the country. Moreover, its not the first time that a storm has disrupted power supply in the northern region.
The PGCB currently has two grid lines to supply electricity to north: one is via the Sirajganj-Ashuganj-230KV line which can carry up to 700MW electricity and the other is Iswardi-Ghorasal-230KV grid line which can supply up to 400MW power. Moreover, it will not be easy to replace the damaged tower any time soon as it needs approximately three to four months only to manufacture and import it to the country. This means the northern region will have to depend on the Iswardi-Ghorasal grid line alone. Apparently, the situation is signalling more frequent load shedding in the coming days.
According to PGCB, power supply to north depends heavily on the Sirajganj-Ashuganj grid line so it was load on top of already existing heavy load and then collapsed due to the storm. Here we also mark uneven distribution of power supply too. These technical matters should be seriously considered by our engineers while another backup line should be introduced for emergency situations.
Nevertheless, the entire supply system of the north should be reorganised. Also the Iswardi-Ghorasal line should be handled carefully. This single line should not be overloaded as we have seen what overloading of supply may cause. The concerned authorities must also generate power from the nearby power plants located at the northern region to ease the pressure on the existing Iswardi-Ghorasal line.
