A Tanesco press statement issued to the media yesterday afternoon said a 220 KV circuit breaker failed on the supply line from the company`s Kidatu power plant in Morogoro Region.
According to the statement, the national grid failed on Sunday, compelling Tanesco to depend on the Kidatu line to feed the national grid.
Unfortunately the Kidatu line failed to discharge power to expectations due to failure of the circuit breaker on Monday night.
Due to the fault, many parts of Dar es Salaam went without power for four hours on Monday afternoon and night.
Tanesco Communications Manager Badra Masoud told `The Guardian` by telephone yesterday that experts of the power supply company were on site fixing the problem, but could not confirm how soon the repair works would be completed.
“As you know, repair works are unpredictable. We cannot tell exactly when they (experts) will finish fixing the problem, but we shall update you on the latest developments,“ she said.
Masoud added: “For the time being, we are monitoring the situation, we shall see today (yesterday) what has happened before giving a statement on the next step.“
Masoud insisted that power rationing has been necessitated by a fall in the amount of electricity in circulation to 542 MW from the 570 MW, which is the actual demand.
The statement said, the emergency power rationing which started on Tuesday, is meant to balance the use of the low power during peak hours, where high consumption rate is experienced.
“Lack of power on this line has caused the normal power of 220 KV to be reduced to 188 KV, and the 132 KV to drop to 120 KV during high consumption hours, a situation which may cause damage of the Ubungo Gas System, which is connected to the national grid,“ said the statement.
According to the statement, a similar problem occurred in October last year, but Tanesco solved it, including installing a new circuit breaker to end the frequent power cuts in many areas of the country.
Areas that will be affected by the emergency power rationing, include Tegeta, Boko, Bunju, Mbweni, Mbezi Beach, Wazo, Masaki, Msasani and Mikocheni.
Others are; Kigamboni, Chang`ombe, Kimara, Mbezi, Goba, Kinondoni and some parts of Mwananyamala and from Buguruni junction to Tabata.
* SOURCE: GUARDIAN
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