Eight hour power outage in Bhosari inconveniences 60k consumers

In the morning on Wednesday, the 100 MVA power transformer at the 220 KV substation of MSETCL at Gawli matha in Bhosari broke down, stopping the power supply of 10 power lines of the MSEDCL

PUNE: Sixty thousand consumers, including domestic, commercial and industrial customers in Bhosari and Akurdi, were severely inconvenienced by power outage as a 100 MVA capacity power transformer broke down at the 220KV substation of the Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Limited (MSETCL) in Bhosari at 6am on Wednesday. The power was restored through an alternative system at 2pm.

Many workshops in Bhosari MIDC area were closed due to sudden power outage, on Wednesday. (HT PHOTO)

In the morning, the 100 MVA power transformer at the 220 KV substation of MSETCL at Gawli matha in Bhosari broke down, stopping the power supply of 10 power lines of the MSEDCL. The power outage affected 60,000 customers, including 4,500 industrial customers in Bhosari MIDC’s block, T block, Bhosari MIDC premises as well as Nehru nagar, Yashwant nagar, Shanti nagar, Bhosari gaothan, Indrayani nagar, Chakrapani vasahat, Shastri chowk, Bhosari and Akurdi areas.

“It turned out to be a major loss for small scale industries during the March ending period. An eight-hour power supply has increased the burden of work and now, all the industries have to work overtime to fulfill the deadline. MSEDCL should have arranged alternate power supply earlier,” said Abhay Bhor, president, Forum of Small Scale Industries’ Association.

Along with industrial customers, domestic customers who are still working from home had to take a half day due to power failure. “Had MSEDCL repaired the 100 MVA power transformer earlier, which was not working since the last few months, today’s incident could have been easily avoided,” Saurabh Phadatre, IT professional from Bhosari, said.

Nishikant Raut, spokesperson of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL), said, “MSETCL has started repairing the faulty power transformers and the work will be completed by next Saturday, March 26. Until then, power supply will be provided in the Bhosari and Akurdi areas through alternative systems. In this, mainly domestic, commercial and water supply schemes will be provided 24 hours’ power supply.”

Overall, the 220 KV substation has three power transformers namely, 100 MVA, 100 MVA and 75 MVA. Out of the three, one 100 MVA power transformer has not been working since the last few months. Of the remaining two (100 MVA and 75 MVA), transformer power was supplied to 26 power lines.

“With the 75 MVA power transformer alone unable to supply power to 26 power lines, the load was shifted to another power transformer,” stated the MSEDCL release. Earlier in February, power supply in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad got disconnected after a 400KV substation at Lonikand faced problems at 4.30am due to a technical glitch.