Biggest power outage ever in Thailand hits 14 provinces

[buksida]

The "biggest power outage ever" in Thailand blacked out 14 southern provinces Tuesday evening, plunging almost the entire South into blackness for 45 minutes.

Authorities said they believed power failed after a problem with a high-voltage cable in Bang Saphan district, Prachuap Khiri Khan province. There was no sign the outage was terrorist-related.

The outage occurred about 7pm, and it took 45 minutes for the lights to start coming back on again.

All provinces south of Surat Thani were affected, including Chumphon, Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Narathiwat, Pattani, Phang Nga, Phatthalung, Phuket, Ranong, Satun, Songkhla, Surat Thani, Trang and Yala.

Sirichai Maingram, president of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) Employees Union president, said the 500kV high-voltage cable in the central region was disconnected from the system.

Mr Sirichai said this was the biggest outage that ever occurred in the country.

Source: Bangkok Post

[barrys]

The "biggest power outage ever" in Thailand blacked out 14 southern provinces Tuesday evening, plunging almost the entire South into blackness for 45 minutes.

Authorities said they believed power failed after a problem with a high-voltage cable in Bang Saphan district, Prachuap Khiri Khan province. There was no sign the outage was terrorist-related.

The outage occurred about 7pm, and it took 45 minutes for the lights to start coming back on again.

All provinces south of Surat Thani were affected, including Chumphon, Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Narathiwat, Pattani, Phang Nga, Phatthalung, Phuket, Ranong, Satun, Songkhla, Surat Thani, Trang and Yala.

Sirichai Maingram, president of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) Employees Union president, said the 500kV high-voltage cable in the central region was disconnected from the system.

Mr Sirichai said this was the biggest outage that ever occurred in the country.

Source: Bangkok Post

Well, their knowledge of Thai geography doesn't exactly inspire confidence, does it?

[StevePIraq]

They also do not even know the rating of their power plants.
Extract from Bangkok Post follows

"Namchai Lorwattanatrakul, governor of Provincial Electricity Authority, confirmed that a preliminary examination indicated the blackout first hit a 500-kilowatt power station at Bang Saphan district of Prachuap Khiri Khan, a major venue for distributing electricity to users in the southern provinces, and later caused widespread outage in other areas."

I think he was referring to a 500MW plant

[Nereus]

I think he was referring to a 500MW plant

No, they are talking about a 500 Kilovolt transmission line.
..................................................................................
I heard on the grapevine that it was caused by excessive use of the Intrernet, and had been traced to the Bang Saphan area.
........................................................................................
All jokes aside: this points to a "single point failure" situation, which is inherent in the poorly designed grid. There was evidently panic in the south with many believing the problem to be terrorist related, and although it was not, the very real possibility exists. By definition, a "grid" is constructed in such a way that a fault in any part of it can be by-passed very quickly without losing an entire part of the country. If the reporting is to be believed, then a very real possiblity exists for terrorists to bring a big part of the south into chaos by simply blowing up just one high tension transmission tower!

[buksida]

I heard on the grapevine that it was caused by excessive use of the Intrernet, and had been traced to the Bang Saphan area.

It happens pretty often here, at least twice a week we have blackouts ... this one was just a little more widespread!

[StevePIraq]

I think he was referring to a 500MW plant

No, they are talking about a 500 Kilovolt transmission line.
..................................................................................
I heard on the grapevine that it was caused by excessive use of the Intrernet, and had been traced to the Bang Saphan area.
........................................................................................
All jokes aside: this points to a "single point failure" situation, which is inherent in the poorly designed grid. There was evidently panic in the south with many believing the problem to be terrorist related, and although it was not, the very real possibility exists. By definition, a "grid" is constructed in such a way that a fault in any part of it can be by-passed very quickly without losing an entire part of the country. If the reporting is to be believed, then a very real possiblity exists for terrorists to bring a big part of the south into chaos by simply blowing up just one high tension transmission tower!

My point still being correct, the official did not even know the system he said a 500KW station which would be tiny.

A point to note is the Thai network is not poorly designed it is renowned as possibly the best in Asia with vast amounts of money spent on it. All networks have occasional trips of the system, there are a multitude of situations that can cause this. It is relatively easy to determine the cause of the trip by analyzing the relay which was first to trip.

[buksida]

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has ordered an investigation into the causes of the massive power blackout in 14 southern provinces on Tuesday night, and the preparation of contingency plans to ensure it does not happen again.

The blackout occurred about 6.30pm and lasted at least two hours, affecting most provinces in the South of the country.

It was directly caused by a failure in a high-voltage cable running from Ratchaburi province to Bang Saphan district in Prachuap Khiri Khan, the main power transmission line from the Central region to the South, according to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand.

“Southern provinces have problems with an inadequate power supply,” Ms Yingluck said on Wednesday morning, before leaving to discuss bilateral relations and trade in Japan, and attend an international conference.

Ms Yingluck said supplementary power cables are generally used to maintain electricity supplies to the South, so the blackout may have been caused by maintenance work or over-loading. In the short term, all cables must be checked, she said.

In the long term, there should be discussions about the country’s overall electricity consumption, to bring a balance between demand and reserve power, she added.

Asked whether the outage will help justify the building of more power plants in the South, Ms Yingluck said Thailand needs more electricity, but there must be discussions on which methods of supply will have the least impact on nearby communities.

Energy Minister Pongsak Raktapongpaisal will call a meeting with senior officials of all related agencies on Wednesday morning to investigate the failure.

Thanit Sorat, secretary-general of Federation of Thai Industries, estimated damage to the industrial sector from the blackout to be as much as 10 billion baht, because it caused the shutdown of machinery in industries such as seafood processing, pineapple canning, cold storage and rubber processing.

The private sector wants the government to ensure there is no repeat of the blackout in the future, Mr Thanit said.

Source: Bangkok Post

[StevePIraq]

Once again misinformation form the powers that be, there are no 500kV cables in Thailand only 500kV Overheard Transmission Lines.

[poosmate]

Why not promote solar power in homes with excess/unusable able to be fed back into the grid?
Maybe too easy?
Solar panels and associated equipment is not so expensive as in the past and the system is widely used in Europe including the UK-Famous for its year round sunshine.

[brianks]

I love it. Solar panels are the answer. Dude, it happened at 6:30 in the evening when it is getting dark. NO solar panels could help at that hour. I live in Khanom where there is a major elect. power plant for Nakon Si Thammarat and the offshore islands (Koh Samui and Koh Phanagan) and we went down like all the rest. What I don't understand is that the 4 power plants in the south can generate 2,000 megawatts of power and the daily needs are for 2,500 megawatts. The power line from the north that wend down carries only 500 megawatts. Why did all of us get brought down when I would think, the outage could have easily been limited to certain areas to cover the loss of the 500 megawatts? Ah, but I did not forget that this is Thailand where the unexpected is expected.

[Dannie Boy]

I love it. Solar panels are the answer. Dude, it happened at 6:30 in the evening when it is getting dark. NO solar panels could help at that hour. I live in Khanom where there is a major elect. power plant for Nakon Si Thammarat and the offshore islands (Koh Samui and Koh Phanagan) and we went down like all the rest. What I don't understand is that the 4 power plants in the south can generate 2,000 megawatts of power and the daily needs are for 2,500 megawatts. The power line from the north that wend down carries only 500 megawatts. Why did all of us get brought down when I would think, the outage could have easily been limited to certain areas to cover the loss of the 500 megawatts? Ah, but I did not forget that this is Thailand where the unexpected is expected.

Without more details it is difficult to say but more than likely, built in protection trips the total supply rather than just restricting certain areas.

[poosmate]

Dude. Solar panels are the answer. IF excess power is fed into the grid the electricity company would have many small power suppliers generating cheap electricity for them. Allowing them to maybe sell excess themselves to Myanmar for example.

[buksida]

Egat explains cause of blackout
The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) on Wednesday apologised for the massive power blackout in 14 southern provinces on Tuesday night and explained how it happened.

“Egat would like to apologise to the people for this incident. We have ordered an inspection of all electric power transmission lines to the South to prevent a repeat of it,” Egat governor Suthat Patmasiriwat told the media.

Mr Suthat said two 500-kilovolt (kV) transmission lines and two 230-kV lines were used to supply electricity from the Central Plains to the southern region. At 8am on Tuesday, one of the 500-kV lines was discharged from the system for maintenance. At 5.26pm, lightning strikes were believed to have been the cause of a malfunction in the other 500-kV line, which led to a shortfall in the grid.

As a consequence, authorities were forced to increase power transmission through the 230-kV lines, which have less overload capacity. The cables later malfunctioned due to overload.

Demand for electricity in the South on Tuesday peaked at 2,200 megawatts, while local power plants were generating 1,600 MW. Electricity supply from the four main power plants in the region -- in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Songkhla, Krabi and Surat Thani provinces – were discharged from the system automatically for safety reasons after the power fell below the standard 50 Hz grid frequency, Mr Suthat said.

After the blackout, Egat ordered all its power plants in the South to boost electricity generation to full capacity. That included power generation by diesel plants in Surat Thani province. Egat also bought 200 MW of electricity from Malaysia. Power supplies were restored to all households by 11pm, the Egat governor said.

The Egat board of directors on Wednesday ordered a committee be set up to investigate the power outage and report its findings within seven days, staring on Thursday.

Source: Bangkok Post