The massive blackout in Kazakhstan's oil-rich west earlier this month was a result of flaws in the planning of maintenance works on the grid and forecast of energy balance, the Kazakh government said on Thursday
ASTANA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2023) The massive blackout in Kazakhstan's oil-rich west earlier this month was a result of flaws in the planning of maintenance works on the grid and forecast of energy balance, the Kazakh government said on Thursday.
The blackout occurred on July 3 and affected both residential areas and large industrial facilities, including the Atyrau oil refinery and drilling facilities of the state-owned KazMunayGas company. On July 9, local utility Maek said it fixed the problem at its energy bloc whose shutdown had caused the outage. The government tasked a special commission with an inquiry into the incident.
"The situation indicates shortcoming in the prognosis of energy balance and planing of maintenance works for the energy system in the western region. The implementation of the plan to strengthen western grid has been lagging," the government said after a meeting where the special commission briefed Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov on its findings.
The state commission has also found that power plants of the affected region have a high breakdown rate due to serious wear.
The officials responsible for the blackout are still being determined, the government said.�
