Pune: An explosion in a 22-KV transformer and the resulting fire at an electricity substation in Chinchwad, run by Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Ltd. (MSETCL), caused a major shutdown on Sunday, September 06 at around 12.25 pm.
Around 2.6 lakh consumers in Pimpri Chinchwad, residing in areas like Chinchwad, Pradhikaran, Ravet, Kalewadi, Wakad, Pimple Gurav, Pimple Nilakh, Sangvi, Punawale, Tathawade, Wakad, Nigdi and Mamurdi were affected.
Additionally, 50,000 consumers residing in Pune in areas like Shivajinagar, Aundh, Ganeshkhind, Senapati Bapat Road, Shivajinagar Gaothan, Model Colony and Bal Gandharva area were also affected.
Totally around 3.1 lakh domestic electricity consumers were affected. The restoration of power began at around 1.50 pm, and power to some areas was restored by 3 pm, although some areas remained without power for sometime longer.
Impact on Pune Metro
The power failure impacted the electricity supply to Pune Metro’s Line 1, connecting Swargate to PCMC. Ganeshkhind Extra High Voltage Substation that supplies electricity to Pune Metro was impacted by the power failure, resulting in disruption of metro services in Pune.
The substation supplies 25-kv electricity that powers the trains and 35-kv electricity to power equipment at metro stations such as escalators, lighting, lifts and other equipment.
During this power failure, metro officials decided to halt eight trains at various metro stations on Line 1 to ensure they don’t get stranded on the way, which could have caused inconvenience and panic among the passengers. It was reported that the disruption lasted around 22 minutes, within which, alternate power arrangement was made from the Vanaz substation.
Power for station facilities such as lifts and escalators was restored by 1 pm.
This unscheduled loss of power caused inconvenience to passengers as ticketing systems, lifts, escalators and lighting were affected.
Impact Beyond Metro and Consumers
The outage not only affected domestic consumers and metro services, but also impacted PMPML bus charging operations. Over 70 electric buses of PMPML could not be charged in time due to power disruption at their charging stations.
By evening, the power was completely restored for all domestic and commercial consumers, including Pune Metro and PMPML.
MSEDCL used alternative power supply lines to restore power and avoid longer outages.
