Capacitor fire leads to a large scale power failure in Phnom Penh

September 4, 2022/ Khmer Times

At around 2:00 pm on Saturday, a damaged capacitor at a power station at Phnom Penh resulted in a large scale power cut in Phnom Penh and other provinces – as well as affecting three of Cambodia’s international airports.

Speaking to Khmer Times, Praing Chulasa, deputy director of Electricity of Cambodia, said that due to capacitor damage and the electrical fire which ensued, there was a large scale blackout – which resulted in large swathes of Cambodia’s population losing power, as well as causing operational issues to the three airports.

He added that the power to all three airports had to be cut off to prevent any accidents.

He said that the main electrical transformer in Phnom Penh airport had caught fire and failing to distribute power, so, in order to prevent an accident, the officials turned off the main generator which led to the rest of the airport power being cut off.

“The whole of Phnom Penh city and the airport in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville province were temporarily without power too,” he noted.

“However, as of now, the power is back on track,”

Chea Oun, spokesman of State Secretariat of Civil Aviation said there there were no concerns, despite the electrical power cut

“Despite the power outage, the airport’s operations as a whole is running well since we have a backup generator that would immediately take over within five seconds if the main generator fails,” he said.