Major technical snag interrupts electricity supply in North Coastal Andhra Pradesh

Visakhapatnam: A major technical snag at the 400kv power supply feeder falling under AP Transco has interrupted power supply to as many as 30 lakh consumers falling under Visakhapatnam based Eastern Power Distribution Company of AP Limited (APEPDCL) on Sunday early hours.
Sudden damage of a capacity voltage transformer attached to the 400kv feeder located at Kalpaka village in Parawada mandal, adjacent to the NTPC-Simhadri power generation unit in Visakhapatnam district at 3.58 am on Sunday has darkened the entire three north coastal districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam for nearly three hours and 45 minutes.
All emergency services like hospitals, water supply, transportation among others were suddenly halted due to the major technical error, first of its kind in the discom limits.
Train services were also interrupted due to the power outage in the three districts. A spokesperson of Waltair division of East Coast Railway said that nearly 5 passenger trains were suddenly halted for nearly half an hour due to no power supply to the locos.
Speaking to TOI, AP Transco superintending engineer for Visakhapatnam, SVR Krishna Mohan said that nearly 500MW of power was not supplied to the consumers soon after the technical snag at the 400KV feeder at Kalpaka.
“We have rarely come across such incidents in our limits. We have immediately restored the power supply to emergencies like hospitals, railways and water supply departments of civic bodies. We will completely restore the power supply in all the three districts by 11 am on Sunday,” Krishna Mohan said.