THE TRANSMISSION system in western Punjab collapsed today in the wee hours, tripping 4 thermal units leading to complete blackout in a number of districts. Tripping of 220 KV lines around Bhatinda areas tripped two thermal units at Bhatinda followed by tripping of two 210 MW units at Lehra Mohabatt.

The tripping of 220 KV lines between Bhatinda and Lehra Mohabatt, Moga and Bajakhana and Bhatinda Muktsar resulted in complete blackout of cities in western Punjab. The power supply to Bhatinda, Moga,  Muktsar, Mansa and other towns was completely disrupted. Besides this all 132 KV lines tripped and took long times before some of these could be revived.

Lehra Mohabatt units were revived in early hours around 5 in morning but could not be run on full load as evacuation of power in absence of transmission system was not possible. There was no power available for hours at Bhatinda thermal to revive the thermal units.

The second failure of transmission system in the region can be attributed to lack of co-ordination between two corporations besides foggy weather conditions.

It may be added that yesterday Punjab’s own generation was 781 lakh units and power purchase was 278 lakh units. The thermals gross generation was 555 lakh units. The peak load shortage in Punjab is around 600 MW.