What You Should know about Grid Failure in Pakistan and Bangladesh?

• Grid failure is the collapse of overhead power lines due to over or under frequency.
• Pakistan may be faced with billions of dollars losses due the power outage caused by grid failure recently.
• The grid failure in Bangladesh left about 140 million people without electricity.

In electrical field, electricity is transmitted at a frequency of 49-50 Hz. When the frequency reaches its minimum or maximum level, there is a risk of failure of transmission power lines. So based on this concept, Power grid failure means the breakdown of transmission lines due to over or under frequency.

We are going to dive into the definition, types and causes of grid failure as well as analyze the grid failure phenomenon in Pakistan and Bangladesh in south part of Asia.

The definition of grid failure

The grid failure is the sudden loss of power supply to the consumer. It is also the collapse of transmission lines and distribution systems which then cut short the supply of electricity. The grid failure is caused by a lot of factors that may include weather conditions, animals, transmission and distribution line failure, computer problems, human error among many others. The grid failure occurrence affects different utility areas such as schools, hospitals, manufacturing industries, offices, government agencies, military and even agriculture.

Types of grid failures

The grid failure can be caused by many external and internal factors that may be necessary or unnecessary to the grid. The pin insulators are installed close to the conductors to protect them from excess current and all other damages attacking them. The various types of grid failures are as discussed below.

Distribution failures

These are the most common type of grid failure but they usually affect a small restricted area. The distribution failures can be caused by factors such as stormy weather, a squirrel on the power lines, car crashing into a pole or a metallic balloon touching the power line. These power outages can be rectified after a small period of time but the ones caused by weather my last a bit longer.

Transmission failures

The transmission failures are much uncommon than the distribution failures but they have enormous consequences when they happen. They are caused by weather, equipment failure, computer problems and human error. The transmission failures can spread to a wide area since they are connected to different states and countries. Crossarm braces connect the electrical crossarm by bolts and nuts. They support the electrical crossarm and make the power pole crossarm firm. The raw material of them is steel.

Supply shortages

These types of failures are rare since they happen when there is basically not enough electricity to meet the high demand. These are fixed by enacting the rolling blackouts where the grid operator chooses to turn off power only to a restricted number of customers. This reduces the demand and allows manageability of the power.

Planned outages

These outages may be transmission or distribution outages but they are intentional to provide public safety. The grid operator may turn off power in some areas of the network in order to perform routine maintenance. These routine shutoff helps to prevent the devices from starting a fire caused by the sudden increase in voltages. Pin insulators are either made from porcelain or glass to enhance their resistance to electric current.

What are causes of grid failure?

Grid failure can be influenced by weather condition as well as other factors which include earthquakes, cyber-attacks, electromagnetic threats, wild fire and operations error. The outages caused such factors often times take a small time to repair while other may take a longer while to fix the issues. The transmission lines are used to transport electricity to over a long range of distance which means that the failure of the transmission lines may affect different regions, cities and even countries. These types of outages may lead to a national disruption and may take time to rectify the failure. Suspension clamps are installed near the conductors and should be hence made from a similar material as the conductors to avoid abrasion and friction of the different devices.

Pakistan grid failure

Pakistan recently received a grid failure that affected millions of people being left in the dark. The government reported that the power outage was caused by a voltage fluctuation in the north-south transmission lines which caused a nationwide power outage. The restoration work of the grid was said to take about 12 hours after a number of the power grids were back on. The power outages greatly affected the hospitals, malls, and markets which were left in the dark after the grid failure.

The losses accrued from the failure would account to more than 20 million Pakistani rupees for just a day due to non-production. Suspension clamps vary in functionability and operability due to the different designs, mechanical and technical abilities of each type. This allows them to be used in a variety of applications in the installations. The country was already undergoing the current economic crisis due to the increase in fuel prices to a point where the markets were ordered to be closed by 8.30 pm to save more on energy. However, this was not adapted which led to more energy consumption. The grid failure is the second occurrence in the last four months that Pakistan was hit by a grid failure. The last power outage in the country lasted for more than 12 hours.

Power grid failure in Bangladesh

The grid failure in Bangladesh left about 140 million people without electricity and it was expected to be restored by nightfall. The grid power was caused by a failure in the transmission lines in the eastern part of the country. The power plants went off one after the other soon after the transmission line failure. The power outage came during the rising power demand and the short supply of gas in the country. About 75% of power in Bangladesh is generated from gas which made the outage to be more severe. Dead end clamps are made with a coating that helps them to resist corrosion and rust.

Bangladesh is expected to invest more to improve its energy security as the current crisis can have economic repercussions. A combination of global and domestic factors has led the country to the present crisis of power outages. The increase in oil prices led by the Russia’s energy war, OPEC+ oil supply cuts and the European Union ban on Russian oil has resulted in the gushing inflation and unsustainable energy import bills. This caused Bangladesh to stop gas acquisitions and shut down several diesel-run power plants. This caused the short supply of energy production in the country since most of its energy supply is from gas. Dead end clamps should be made from material close that are similar to the conductors to prevent abrasion and increase the long service life of the devices.

How to prevent grid failure?

Power outages often have multiple causes but we live in a world where electricity is a necessity for our daily lives including our offices, industries, hospitals, households and even the military. We therefore have to work towards securing the grid stability to avoid the failures that cause us disruptions. Pin insulators can also be galvanized to help them cope with all the different weather conditions to avoid corrosion and rust. The following are some of the ways we can help to prevent power outages and grid failures.

• We should make investments to increase grid resilience and prevent power outages from happening.
• We should take measures to harden transmission and distribution infrastructure to reduce the risk of these failures.
• We should also incorporate the use of microgrids to reduce the dependence on the transmission lines and distribution systems.

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