Power outage hits Pimpri-Chinchwad, parts of Pune after fire breaks out at MSETCL substation

The fault occurred around 12.25pm following an explosion involving a 22 kV current transformer (CT) and circuit breaker at the Chinchwad substation

A technical fault at the Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Limited’s (MSETCL) 220 kV extra-high-voltage substation in Chinchwad disrupted power supply to around 3.1 lakh consumers across Pimpri-Chinchwad and parts of Pune on Sunday.

The explosion triggered a fire, which officials said was brought under control shortly afterwards. (HT)

The fault occurred around 12.25pm following an explosion involving a 22 kV current transformer (CT) and circuit breaker at the Chinchwad substation. The explosion triggered a fire, which officials said was brought under control shortly afterwards.

The disruption affected around 2.6 lakh consumers in Pimpri-Chinchwad and 50,000 in Pune. Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) used alternative supply routes to restore electricity to several affected areas. Supply in Shivajinagar, Aundh, Ganeshkhind, Senapati Bapat Road, Shivajinagar gaothan, Model Colony and Bal Gandharva areas was restored by around 1.50pm, while most other areas were restored through alternative arrangements by 3pm.

In Pimpri-Chinchwad, the outage affected Pradhikaran, Ravet, Kalewadi, Wakad, Pimple Gurav, Pimple Nilakh, Sangvi, Punawale and Tathawade.

The Ganeshkhind extra-high-voltage substation, which supplies electricity to Pune Metro, was also affected, resulting in a brief disruption to the Metro’s power supply.

The fault also affected the Ambethan (Chakan) and Talegaon 132 kV substations. While residential consumers in Talegaon were provided electricity through an alternative line from Khopoli, technical limitations delayed the restoration of supply to industrial consumers.

Power supply to the Ambethan substation was restored at around 4.20pm. The disruption affected around 1,500 industrial units in the area.

Vitthal Bhujbal, superintendent engineer, MSETCL’s Pune division, said, “One of the four major transformers at Chinchwad has developed a technical problem and will require additional time for repairs. We have restarted another transformer, which is currently carrying around 35 MW of load against its capacity of 50 MW. Two more transformers are expected to be restarted shortly, which will help restore most of the affected supply.”

He said supply had been restored in parts of Chakan, Ganeshkhind and Rahatani, while efforts were continuing in Talegaon and other affected areas.

“Teams are working continuously at the affected locations. The power was restored across the affected areas between 6pm and 7pm,” Bhujbal said.