By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

GRAND Bahama residents are being warned to brace for brief power outages over the next four to six weeks as the island’s power company carries out scheduled maintenance and sources additional temporary generation to strengthen its electricity grid.

The notice from Grand Bahama Power Company (GBPC) follows a lightning strike on Wednesday that caused an island-wide outage, leaving hundreds of residents without power for several hours.

The strike occurred around 8.36am and damaged a transmission line, triggering a complete loss of generation across the island. GBPC said the grid’s configuration led to the loss of a major generating unit at the Peel Street plant, resulting in a system-wide failure.

Restoration crews were immediately mobilised, with power returned to the first group of customers within an hour. Full restoration was completed shortly after noon, the company said. 

Neilsen Beneby, GBPC’s energy transformation lead, said such weather-related incidents are unpredictable and can sometimes cause service disruption.

Nonetheless, he added that the company continues to implement a structured capital maintenance plan to improve long-term reliability.

“As part of our ongoing efforts, we are currently sourcing additional temporary generation and advancing scheduled maintenance activities,” Mr Beneby continued. “We are committed to keeping customers proactively informed and are doing everything within our control to ensure reliable power delivery once this period of work is completed.”

Regarding its summer readiness plans, he said customers can be assured that officials have sufficient generation capacity in place to meet demand.