By LETRE SWEETING

Tribune Staff Reporter

lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Power and Light confirmed yesterday that it started load-shedding exercises because of challenges to several power stations in New Providence.

Many residents have recently complained about power outages lasting up to two or three hours.

 BPL acknowledged the interruptions were due to “strain on an already stressed network”.

 “Late last week and over the weekend, we experienced challenges with several units in our fleet, at Clifton Pier and Blue Hills Power Stations,” BPL said in a statement. “These challenges were exacerbated by the unavailability of generation typically provided through a rental agreement.

 “We lost approximately 60 megawatts of generation in the past few days, resulting in a generation shortfall and our inability to supply the entire island of New Providence. As a result, customers experienced periods of supply interruption throughout the weekend.”

 BPL said power was fully restored throughout the island at 8pm on Friday after the restoration of 10 megawatts of generation and the typical nighttime load decrease.

 BPL’s communications manager, Arnette Ingraham, said the generation issues are not expected to worsen or persist through the summer.

 “We are at a critical juncture,” she said, “but are extremely confident that repairs and new generation by next week should provide us with sufficient generation for summer.”

 BPL said it is working on adding more reliable units to its fleet of generators to provide reliable services.

  “There are ongoing efforts to increase our generation capacity today (Monday, June 26, 2023),” the company said. “As of this morning, 4 megawatts of rental generation was returned to service, and an additional 15 megawatts, operated by BPL, should be available by the end of the day.

 “We are cognizant of our network’s vulnerability and continue to work towards adding more reliable units to our total availability. We anticipate the commissioning of 33 megawatts of additional rental generation by July 5, 2023.”

 BPL said New Providence demands a maximum of 270 megawatts of generation. Consequently, it is working to add 28 megawatts of generation to its fleet to better accommodate the power needs of the island.

 “We are also actively working on one of our primary units that provides 28 megawatts of generation. If successful, this will give us 276 megawatts of available generation that can adequately meet New Providence’s peak demand of 270 megawatts,” the company said.

 “Repairs are underway on one of our units at Blue Hills Power Station that should be completed by July 6, 2023. This 53 megawatts should provide generation stability for the island of New Providence.” 

 BPL has had a long history of issues over power supply –– although in December 2019, then BPL chairman Donovan Moxey said that seven new multi-fuel engines at the company’s Station A plant would mean “an end to load shedding” and that the facility along with other parts of the company’s strategy would “help make load shedding a thing of the past”.

 In 2020, then Deputy Prime Minister Desmond Bannister said that BPL could generate between 215 and 350MW of power during the summer, more than the anticipated peak of 250MW. However, last year Minister of Works Alfred Sears warned that BPL’s generation capacity of 241.1MW could not cover the peak demand of 260MW expected last summer.