Jamaica:
Blackout probe team off tomorrow
Jamaica
Gleaner
KINGSTON
Petroleumworld.com
08 14 06
The
team of Canadian consultants contracted to conduct
a forensic investigation into the recent islandwide
power blackout is scheduled to leave Jamaica tomorrow.
The
consultants arrived in the island last Wednesday,
and have been meeting with members of the management
and key technical staff of the Jamaica Public Service
(JPS) Company Limited regarding the blackout.
The
team from Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP and Rusnov
& Associates Limited comprises individuals with
expertise in the investigation of power outages
and the evaluation and development of effective
regulatory and management systems.
They
are being supported by a team of engineers and support
professionals from the Ministry of Industry, Technology,
Energy and Commerce and relevant agencies of the
ministry.
They
have reportedly toured a number of JPS plants, substations
and facilities and examined major transmission lines
and it is expected that they will also make recommendations
to prevent a recurrence of the islandwide power
outage.
Major
threat
Prime
Minister Portia Simpson Miller had ordered the indepen-dent
investigation less than 24 hours after the blackout
on July 15, citing that the prolonged power outage
was a major threat to national security, consumer
comfort and production.
Meanwhile
Minister of Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce
Phillip Paulwell says he is expecting a comprehensive
report on the incident.
"It
is of concern that there were no early warning signals
and we need to determine whether we also need to
strengthen our national supervisory and monitoring
capa-bility and capacity," he said.
The
JPS had reported that the blackout was triggered
by a fault on the high-tension 138kV trans-mission
line from Bogue in Montego Bay, St. James, to Duncans,
Trelawny.
The
company said this was caused by lightning. JPS had
also indicated that the blackout was caused by several
factors, including: a failure of the protective
mechanism at the Duncans substation to operate as
it is designed to in response to this interference;
and the subsequent failure of the automatic protection
system to be activated on several key generating
units, which caused the generators to go off line,
resulting in a dramatic, instantaneous reduction
of about 40 per cent in the operating generation
capacity.
Jamaica Gleaner
Monday | August 14, 2006
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