'Fluctuations in Jordan-Egypt power connection caused May 21 outage'

AMMAN — The Technical Committee, formed by the Lower House Energy Committee to investigate the power outage on May 21, found that the power cut was caused by abnormal fluctuations in the Jordan-Egypt electricity connection.

The exchange capacity abnormally fluctuated between 70 to 300 megawatts (MW), according to the committee.

While the committee could not determine what caused the power fluctuations in the first place, it ruled out the possibility of a deliberate act or a cyberattack, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The occurrence was a physical condition that humans could not have caused, the committee report read, adding that if there was a cyber-attack it would have taken several days to re-programme and restore the power supply, Muhammad Friehat, the chief expert of the committee, said.

Friehat indicated that the exchange capacity of the line dropped to 70MW during the incident, before jumping again to 200MW.

He added that the fluctuation rose to 300MW, which led to a voltage fluctuation from a normal rate of about 390 kilovolts (KV) to 300 kilovolts (KV). These fluctuations posed a risk to the safety and stability of the entire power grid, Friehat stated.

He said that it was decided later to contact Egypt to cut off the power supply.

Friehat noted that past fluctuations in the Jordan-Egypt electricity connection have been relatively low and would disappear within minutes. These fluctuations would also only happen about once every two years, Friehat added.

The expert pointed out that the May incident was the “first of its kind” to hit 300MW before the outage.

The report said that the response speed was "reasonable" and that the National Electric Power Company was able to restore supply via the Jordan-Egypt line.

The committee recommended hiring a global firm to study and develop solutions for the "power exchange swings".