Power blackout in the South an uncontrollable incident
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The Energy Ministry's fact-finding shows the power blackout in the South on May 21 was an uncontrollable incident. This clears the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand from any responsibility.
The incident was unexpected and EGAT has followed through the manual, said Energy Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal after reviewing the report from a fact-finding committee.
The committee was set up to investigate the causes of the blackout in 14 provinces in the South. Three unexpected incidents were pointed out in the report. First, lightning struck the 500KV line linking Jombueng and Bang Saphan. Second, this line went under emergency fixing. Third, the HVDC system, linking power supply from Malaysia, malfunctioned. All the three incidents happened in 5.2 seconds, cutting off the South from the national power grid.
Pongsak said that the study showed that after the incident, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand immediately installed new transmission lines in the South. After the blackout at 6.52pm on the day, EGAT helped the high-voltage power station in Chumphon to resume the transmission at 7.05pm. The transmission at other high-voltage power stations resumed within 8.12pm.
At the meeting with high-level energy officials, they considered short-term and long-term measures to prevent another mishap. They also reviewed the energy development and transmission plans, to ensure national energy security. Pongsak said that EGAT will urgently implement short-term measures.
The interrupted transmission from Malaysia cost Bt13 million in damage.
Direk Lawansiri, chairman of the Energy Regulatory Commission, said that the burden could not be passed to EGAT. He however noted that the damage amount is small, affecting the fuel tariff (FT) less than 0.1 satang per unit. This burden could be covered by ERC which has earned about Bt1 billion from energy-related penalties.
