Classic puzzle: The Culprit [ANSWERED]

This is said to be the culprit in a recent news story
(Image not oriented to North to make it a bit harder)


Tilted or ratated GE or GM please

I think it is clear that it is a power plant. I wonder how nobody could find the relevant recent news item but here is a clue:

SPOILER: Click to show

Not very often does a whole country fall into darkness.

thanks for the clue!

true, even if i knew the news, i've been mistakenly fascinated by this canal

So many possible culprits to choose from ...

Jan 11, 2021 15:01:29 GMT hhgygy said:

I think it is clear that it is a power plant. I wonder how nobody could find the relevant recent news item .......

I am a power plant engineer having spent more than 25 years in Design, Erection, Testing, Commissioning and Maintenance of Coal fired thermal power plant but I couldn't recognise the OP. The main recognisable components of a fossil fuel power plants in a satellite view are Coal yard, Chimney(s), Cooling Tower(s) and Switchyard.

In the image in the OP the Coal yard, Chimney(s), Cooling Tower(s) couldn't be recognised mainly because it is oil/gas fired power plant so no coal yard and shorter chimneys. Also it has Forced Draft Cooling Towers so no gigantic cooling towers. The only object which I could have recognised was Switchyard but I missed it.

Jan 11, 2021 17:17:08 GMT CuriousJM said:

Jan 11, 2021 15:01:29 GMT hhgygy said:

I think it is clear that it is a power plant. I wonder how nobody could find the relevant recent news item .......

I am a power plant engineer having spent more than 25 years in Design, Erection, Testing, Commissioning and Maintenance of Coal fired thermal power plant but I couldn't recognise the OP. The main recognisable components of a fossil fuel power plants in a satellite view are Coal yard, Chimney(s), Cooling Tower(s) and Switchyard.

In the image in the OP the Coal yard, Chimney(s), Cooling Tower(s) couldn't be recognised mainly because it is oil/gas fired power plant so no coal yard and shorter chimneys. Also it has Forced Draft Cooling Towers so no gigantic cooling towers. The only object which I could have recognised was Switchyard but I missed it.

Yeah I'm no expert but I thought that the grid of cables is typical of power plants

Glad that this post made Jamal give us a bit of his background, very informative and interesting

Jan 11, 2021 17:17:08 GMT CuriousJM said:

Jan 11, 2021 15:01:29 GMT hhgygy said:

I am a power plant engineer having spent more than 25 years in Design, Erection, Testing, Commissioning and Maintenance of Coal fired thermal power plant but I couldn't recognise the OP. The main recognisable components of a fossil fuel power plants in a satellite view are Coal yard, Chimney(s), Cooling Tower(s) and Switchyard.

Jamal. 
I wonder why they have a gas/oil power plant instead of taking advantage of such a huge source of water nearby?

Jan 13, 2021 6:13:32 GMT jesusmx said:

Jamal. 
I wonder why they have a gas/oil power plant instead of taking advantage of such a huge source of water nearby?

jesusmx to produce electricity from water just the availability of water is not enough. The electrical energy is produced by by utilising the potential energy of water driving a water turbine. The potential energy of the water depends on the volume of flow and the difference in height between the inlet of the water to the turbine and outlet. This height difference is called the head. The larger the head & the flow the greater is the energy. This is the reason why hydroelectric power plants are generally in mountainous areas or in areas where a dam can be built to achieve higher head as compared to normal river/canal flow. Perennial waterfalls are a good source of water energy. Cataracts can also produce electricity but would need large sized turbine as they do not have high head but carry large volumes of water.

Some turbines utilise the head created by tidal flows but these produce electricity only during the periods of high tide.

Hope this clarifies your query.

FYI for about 5 years of my initial career I was hydroelectric plant design engineer before switching over to Thermal power plants.

Jan 13, 2021 7:42:43 GMT CuriousJM said:

Jan 13, 2021 6:13:32 GMT jesusmx said:

jesusmx to produce electricity from water just the availability of water is not enough. The electrical energy is produced by by utilising the potential energy of water driving a water turbine. The potential energy of the water depends on the volume of flow and the difference in height between the inlet of the water to the turbine and outlet. This height difference is called the head. ....

Hope this clarifies your query.

FYI for about 5 years of my initial career I was hydroelectric plant design engineer before switching over to Thermal power plants.

Thanks a bunch Jamal
Very clear exposition, I have always dreamed of a low flow small turbine that you can put hundreds or thousands in a long river and generate electricity for a nearby town, or to pump water from the same river to a high reservoir. 

In the country of this puzzle, I see a big damn to the 54 km to the NW of the capital, I would have expected that would be the primary source of energy for the country instead of the gas/oil culprit.

Again, thanks for your nice explanation

ANSWER

SPOILER: Click to show

There was a country-wide power outage in Pakistan on January 9 2020.
The outage was partly attributed to the failure of the Guddo power plant located at  28°25'27.22" N 69°42'12.87" E