PowerGen increases power supply
BY VERNE BURNETT and SHERWIN LONG
The Trinidad Guardian
Port
Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
01 07 07
The
Power Generation Company of T&T (PowerGen) has
managed to improve the supply of electricity to
the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&Tec)
to the extent that load shedding by T&Tec is
no longer necessary.
An
official of the Regulated Industries Commission
(RIC) said yesterday the power supply situation
had improved even before Christmas so that despite
pre-holiday warnings of impending blackouts, there
was no load shedding over Christmas.
Garvin
Alexander, assistant executive director—technical
operations at the RIC, confirmed the commission
had not received any complaints about load shedding
or blackouts during the Christmas holidays.
Two
Sundays ago, PowerGen experienced serious technical
problems at its Port-of-Spain power station, forcing
the company to shut down some generators. This reduced
the amount of electricity supplied to T&Tec
and forced the electricity commission to shed load
in areas including the western peninsula and PoS
and environs in the week before Christmas and warn
of possible blackouts during the Christmas holiday
period.
Public
Utilities Minister Pennelope Beckles and T&Tec
officials had hoped the problem would have been
fixed by Christmas Day.
It
wasn’t, but Alexander said enngineers had
found the cause of the problem, a leak in culverts
which are part of the cooling system of two of the
steam turbines at the Port-of-Spain power station.
In
the meantime, PowerGen was able to ease the power
shortage by last Wednesday by bringing back on stream
two generators at its Pt Lisas power station which
had been down for routine maintenance.
Alexander
said the solution to the problem at the Port-of-Spain
power station is not a short-term one. He said initial
hopes that the system could be repaired by Christmas
day have turned out to have been too optimistic.
Engineers have diagnosed the fault as leaking and
coroded pipes in the system of culverts which cool
the superhot exhaust from the steam turbines at
the Wrightson road power station. These culverts
are buried 15-feet under Wrightson Road and it is
now estimated that fixing the problem could take
at least another 2-3 weeks.
PowerGen
is expected to enhance its generating capacity over
the next two months with the commissioning of two
new 105-megawatt generators at its Pt Lisas power
plant, further reducing the prospect of load shedding.
The first is expected to come on stream at monthend
and the second at the end of February, boosting
PowerGen’s output by a total of 210 megawatts.
T&T
Manufacturers’ Association (TTMA) president
Paul Quesnel said he was unsure how the power fluctuations
over the past two weeks has affected the association’s
membership.
Quesnel
said concerns about the power supply may have been
downplayed by manufacturers during the festive Christmas
period.
He
noted that during this period some manufacturers
produce less.
But
with the increased price of electricity for TTEC’s
business customers, Quesnel maintained that there
were conditions TTEC had to follow.
“Part
of the RIC agreement with T&TEC for the rate
increase to the business community was that service
had to be improved,” he said.
Powergen’s
shortcomings may not have troubled manufacturers
in December but in November some tenants in the
Diamond Vale Industrial estate were seriously affected.
Vemco
Ltd and Ansa Polymer are two companies on the estate
where irregularities in power supply were reported.
Vemco’s
operations manager Shazard Hosein said in late November
there were serious power fluctuations.
Ansa
Polymer’s maintenance manager Brian Grant
also confirmed that in November the company also
experienced power fluctuations and low voltage.
Hosein
said, in November, electrical wires sparked and
ignited on two separate occasions.
The
Trinidad Guardian
Thursday 4th January, 2007
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