‏Thunderstorms that hit the Kingdom over the past few days wreaked considerable damage to the electricity grid in the southern governorate of Tafileh, resulting in repeated power outages.
However, the Tafilah Electricity Distribution Company (EDCO) Director Khalid Alzeidaneen claimed that the power network and restoration of supply was handled in a record time by his company.
He explained that the EDCO implemented a package of electrical projects to prevent power supply interruptions, and called upon the citizens to convert the standard aerial cables into underground cabling system, carry out maintenance work continuously and replace old electrical power transformers with new ones to lessen interruptions.
The interruptions occurred after thunderstorms impacted the main electrical network located in Shobak city areas, thus affecting the Tafilah's network. Power outages occurred for a short period of time but any damaged wires and insulators were replaced, he added.
He also pointed out that the interruptions were mostly non-scheduled and were caused by strong winds, snow and sandstorms in the city, making maintenance work and efforts to restore electricity extremely difficult. He said the EDCO had completed the installation of three new power relay stations in the Basera and Qadisiyah areas and carried out a maintenance campaign including replacing transformers and high-voltage lines to avoid any interruptions during blizzards and strong winds.
Three new stations had been installed in the areas of Grndl and Rabas to help improve electric power supply and cope with weather conditions adversely affecting the networks and power lines in the areas of Basera and Qadisiyah.
As part of preparations elsewhere in the Kingdom, the Irbid District Electricity Company (IDECO) has also prepared a contingency plan to deal with the weather conditions during the winter.
The company's general manager, Engineer Ahmed Denat, said the plan includes maintenance of lines, wires and cables and making provisions for equipment and special mechanisms, noting that the company had carried out a full maintenance of the electricity networks in the past.
Denat reviewed IDECO's preparations that took into account the problems encountered during last winter's snowstorm (Alexa), pointing out that the company had cut off many trees that came in the way of electric cables and insulators. Cables used to get entangled in these trees.
The company has provided equipment to locate electrical faults and reduce the impact of power outages and has installed medium voltage lines substations to establish electrical networks that bring down the interruptions as much as possible, especially in emergency situations.