BANGKOK, 18 March 2017 (NNT) – The longest blackout in Thailand happened for nine hours and 20 minutes on 18 March 1978, causing a significant damage to the country’s economy.
Failures at a Phra Nakhon Tai power plant on 18 March 2978 where all 4 1,030-megawatt generators shut down unexpectedly caused the biggest blackout in Thailand’s history, affecting 77 percent of the country's electricity uses and causing domino effects to other generators in the country.
The incident occurred from 7:40 a.m. and took approximately an hour for the electricity to partially come back in the northern region, 15 minutes in the northeastern region, an hour in the central region, and two hours in the metropolitan area. It took a total of 9 hours and 20 minutes for the electricity system to be entirely fixed.
A recent blackout incident then occurred on 21 March 2016 in 14 southern provinces due to a malfunction in the system. This blackout lasted from 20 minutes to 2 hours depending on the area.
A study by Chulalongkorn University shows if a national blackout occurred again, it would cause the country an approximate of one billion baht in economic damage per hour, even higher if it was during the peak power-using period. The incident would cause major economic consequences and affect the country’s image in the eye of foreign investors.
The government is now working to enhance the country’s electricity generating capacity and the backup system to ensure immediate restoration of electricity in case of emergency. Thailand now has sufficient reserve electricity sources but they are mostly condensed in the central, northern, and northeastern regions, requiring electricity to be fed through live wires to the southern region, causing vulnerability should the wire become damaged, thus the enhancement of the local electricity generating system is required in the southern region, with the transmission system from the central region only a backup system if needed. -
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