As Bahamians complained about a miserable weekend due to widespread power outages in New Providence, Bahamas Power and Light Company Limited (BPL) yesterday confirmed that this past weekend’s load shedding activity was due to the temporary loss of two of its generating assets .
They added that this extended the times and multiplied the number of outages across the island.
In a release issued yesterday, the company explained, “ One of the lost assets was returned to service by Sunday afternoon, with work proceeding to bring the other asset back online as quickly as possible. On Friday, BPL reiterated that Aggreko rental units are due in at the Blue Hills Power Station by June 30, 2019, and that the addition of these rental units will alleviate the demand challenges BPL is facing.”
It added, “load shedding in New Providence began on Wednesday, June 19, as a result of problems experienced with its generating assets at the Blue Hills Power Station. Simultaneously, and as a result of increasing temperatures, customer demand on the network in New Providence spiked over the preceding days. The loss of generation coupled with the increase in demand resulted in a shortfall of generation and the need for load shedding.”
Acting Chief Operations Officer Ian Pratt said, “our teams at the Blue Hills Station are working feverishly to resolve the concern with the generators and return them to service as soon as possible to offset in the short term the current shortfall. Further, BPL wishes to advise that the installation of additional rental generation at the Blue Hills Station is nearing completion.
“ It is expected that this additional power will be available by the week ending June 30, 2019. This additional rental will bolster BPL’s available generation and put us in a better position to meet the increasing customer demand during this summer period.” he added.
The generation shortfall coupled with the spike in demand translates to almost daily load shedding almost daily, in two hour rotations.
The company indicated that this will continue until the rental generators are installed “and the generators that are out of commission for repair or maintenance are brought back into service.”
