CT explosion at Madunaghat substation causes Chattogram power outage
Apr 2023Published 31 Oct 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor
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What happened
In an afternoon outage reported by The Daily Star on 15 April 2023, a current transformer exploded at the Madunaghat 132 kV substation in Chattogram, Bangladesh, causing a failure in the local grid. Power Development Board (PDB) officials said the fault cut supply to many parts of the city, including Halishahar, Bandar, Nasirabad, Agrabad, EPZ and Pahartali, and to several surrounding areas such as Hathazari, Satkania and Anwara. Residents reported being without electricity for about two to three hours, from around 2:30pm to 3:00pm, with power restored gradually around 5:50pm to 6:00pm.
PDB sources described the outage as lasting 30 minutes to one hour in different parts of the city. The PDB Chattogram chief engineer said supply was off from 4:40pm to 5:50pm and suggested that load shedding in some areas might explain the longer outages residents described. PDB said the mechanical and technical glitches were fixed and power was restored.
Contributing factors
The source states that a current transformer exploded at the substation and that mechanical and technical glitches were involved. The cause of the explosion itself is not reported. The longer outages reported by residents were not fully explained; the chief engineer suggested load shedding in some areas.
Lessons learned
- Current transformers should be inspected and tested for insulation deterioration, overheating and overloading, because a single failed unit can cut supply across a wide area.
- Protection schemes should isolate a faulty transformer quickly so that the outage is confined to the smallest possible area.
- Operators should log supply interruptions and load shedding precisely, so that public statements on outage duration can be checked against records.
More lessons on electrical protection and isolation, outages, backup supply and restoration, from every incident on the register.
Source
Other entries that name Chattogram
Published 2026-10-31. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.
