Technician on Island to Address Electricity Issues

Welcoming news that the spate of power outages across the island could be resolved soon.

It’s been revealed that a technician is now on island to address the issues related to the continued electricity interruptions that have been plaguing the island for several months.

The constant power outages are due to aged generators which need to be urgently replaced, as well as the lack of synchronicity between the equipment.

Permanent Secretary for MCWLE and Chairman of the Board for MUL, Colin Fergus said that in the last fiscal year, the ministry received approval to engage a consultant to work on the connectivity issue.

He confirmed that the parts and the expert are now on island and that over the coming weeks, it is expected that work would be undertaken to connect the newest generator purchased in 2017 to the main bus bar in the power station, and ensure that the solar farm can feed into the island’s energy grid.

Fergus says the work will involve changing out the control unit on the generator and connecting it to the main power station in Shinlands.

He states that once this is completed, the engineer will adjust the hybrid controller for the Lookout solar farm to allow it to communicate with the power station.

The MCWLE Permament Secretary Fergus highlights that MUL officials have said testing of the generator will take place later this week.

Success, he says, would mean that there will be an additional generator available to the system, putting MUL in a better position to conduct much needed maintenance on the older high-speed generators.

The medium speed generator is also due for maintenance.

The PS says it is a balancing act to navigate the ministry policies which may be advanced beyond what MUL is able to undertake and manage.