By SANCHESKA DORSETT

Tribune Staff Reporter

sdorsett@tribunemedia.net

AN INVESTIGATION is underway to determine what caused an island-wide power outage in the capital early on Thursday, just hours after Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) admitted the corporation was experiencing generator challenges.

According to a release on BPL’s Facebook page, the power outage occurred shortly after 4am. At 7am BPL said power was restored to 50 per cent of the island.

“So far, initial investigations point to a generator failure at Clifton Pier Power Station that triggered the failure of other units at that power station and Blue Hills Power Station as well,” the statement said.

“Once crews complete the restoration process, further investigations will focus on what causes the system failure.”

A few hours before the island-wide outage, BPL also said they were experiencing generator issues that impacted around 50 per cent of customers and lasted around an hour and half.

At 1.15pm BPL announced it had completed restoration.

A statement read: "Within 30 minutes of total system shutdown, the company had restarted engines and commenced supply restoration to its impacted customers. By 7am more than 50 per cent of BPL’s customers had their service restored and before 9am there was 100 per cent restoration.

"Company officials are not only investigating this incident but a partial shutdown on Wednesday that resulted in a loss of power to 50 per cent of BPL’s customers. In both instances, crews were able to quickly restart engines and restore power to impacted customers.

'BPL apologises to its customers and assures them of its ongoing commitment to making significant improvements to reliability both short and long term."