Breaker explosion at Chaumuhani substation cuts power in Noakhali

What happened

A 33 kV source breaker at the Chaumuhani grid substation in Begumganj, Noakhali, was damaged in an explosion and then caught fire at about 8:30 pm on a Friday, according to a report dated 27 September 2026. The failure shut the 33 kV line from Chaumuhani to Maijdi and cut supply to the Maijdi substation, causing an outage in the district town and surrounding areas. Sources at the Noakhali office of the Bangladesh Power Development Board said a parallel ring was supplying 10 MW against demand put at 20 MW, while demand in the board's area of the district town was also put at 22 to 25 MW, with only 10 MW supplied overnight.

Supply was to be rotated, one hour at a time, between parts of the town until the damaged breaker was replaced. The board said the breaker pole was damaged and broken, rain was slightly delaying the work, and a new breaker was expected by Saturday afternoon. The report does not confirm that the replacement was finished.

Contributing factors

The source says the pole of the 33 kV source breaker was damaged and broken. It does not say whether that damage caused the explosion or followed it. Rain was reported to have slightly delayed the repair.

Lessons learned

1. Keep a replacement available for a 33 kV source breaker that feeds a town, so one failure does not leave supply on a reduced ring for long.
2. Check, before relying on it, how much of local demand an alternative ring can actually carry during a breaker outage.
3. Plan outdoor breaker replacement so rain does not stretch rotating outages.

Source

dailycountrytodaybd.com