Fire at Alamatty substation in Chennai | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement Chennai is limping back to normalcy after several parts of the city experienced a power blackout on the night of Thursday (September 12, 2024) due to a fire at the 400/230 kilovolt (KV) power substation in Alamatty.As a result of the fire, power supply was completely disrupted at the 400/230-KV Manali substation, which triggered the blackout. In a few places, residents faced voltage issues till the morning of Friday (September 13, 2024), though the officials of Tangedco restored power within a few hours of the fire by rerouting the supply to other substations. Power disruption was experienced in several places in Chennai, including Mylapore, Luz, Santhome, Nungambakkam, Royapuram, Tondiarpet, Toll Gate, Saidapet, Vyasarpadi, Sembium, Kolathur, Periyar Nagar, Madhavaram, Red Hills, Kodungaiyur, Anna Salai, T. Nagar, Parry’s, George Town, Egmore, and Chintadripet. What happened?A senior official of Tangedco said the main source of power supply to the city is the North Chennai Thermal Power Station (NCTPS), where power is generated through the substations of NCTPS Stage 2 and Alamatty. It is then distributed through the Manali substation to the extent of 800 megawatt (MW). The fire broke out at the Alamatty substation at 9:58 p.m. on Thursday, and as a result, power supply to the Manali substation was stopped. Supply was marred by a technical glitch at Alamatty as well, officials said. Tangedco officials, with the help of fire and rescue services personnel, doused the fire at the substation within an hour, and began the process of restoring power supply to the northern and central parts of the city by rerouting the supply through the 230-KV substations of Tondiarpet, Kalivanthapattu, and Sriperumbudur. However, all the three substations faced technical failures because of a power overload, leading to a delay in restoration efforts. By deploying numerous operation and maintenance staff in all these substations, power supply was resumed in a phased manner after more than two hours, with some localities receiving power supply by 2 a.m. on Friday. Tangedco officials said the availability of grid substations helped restore power supply in a phased manner to Anna Salai, Chintadripet, Nungambakkam, Sembium, and Periyar Nagar by 12.30 a.m. on Friday, and by 2 a.m., power was restored in all parts of the city. Published – September 13, 2024 11:53 am IST