On Thursday GEBE was once again plagued by a number of mechanical challenges, however everything returned back to normal by 6.00pm as the production load on the Dutch side of the island went down as the business day started to come to a close at five and six pm.
Generator #15 tripped around 4.00pm as a result of instability in the power grid and this resulted in power disruption in the Cupecoy/Mullet Bay area, Beacon Hill, Simpson Bay Village, Airport Road, Belvedere, Oyster Pond and the Westin Hotel area.
Diesel Generator #16 also developed a mechanical problem causing a loss of 8 Megawatts (MW) in production capacity around 2.45pm. This resulted in interruption in service for Madame Estate, AT Illidge Road, Middle Region, Madame Estate area, Arch Road, Suckergarden, and Guana Bay.
Generator #16 is expected to remain offline as technicians work to repair the problem. Up to press time these repairs were still on-going and may continue on Friday leaving the possibility open for possible load shedding on Friday.
GEBE customers are asked to check out www.nvgebe.com for the latest information regarding load shedding.
With Generator #17 already offline for general scheduled maintenance, this just added to the shortage in capacity during daylight peak hours. The demand for electricity from the community and the business sector peaked at 55MW.
Other neighbourhoods impacted by disruption in service around 4.00pm were St. Peters, south Reward, Ebenezer, Betty’s Estate, Saunders, Mary’s Fancy, Cay Bay, Cole Bay (Welfare Road), and the Pelican area.
Earlier in the day there were outages in other areas such as Dutch Quarter, Tamarind Hill, Dawn Beach, Union Farm and the Bishop Hill area.
GEBE regrets the inconvenience caused.