“We are assessing to determine what can be done to better protect equipment and lessen the impact to customers during such storm incidents,” BPL said in response to Eyewitness News inquiries.
Police said Fire Services launched an investigation into the electrical fire at the plant, located at Blue Hill Road and Soldier Road, on Tuesday, September 22. According to the preliminary report, police were alerted shortly before 6 a.m., and two fire engines were dispatched. Firefighters found the blaze confined to a transformer, which sustained extensive damage before the fire was extinguished.
Police said the transformer is located in the southwestern section of the property and is managed by a private electrical company. That company’s site manager told Fire Services he suspected a lightning strike may have caused the fire.
“The most important thing is that the staff and our partners remained safe and the proper steps were followed to isolate the site and extinguish the fire,” BPL said.
“Then, we worked as safely and speedily as possible to restore power supply to our consumers.”
The Free National Movement said a possible lightning strike does not answer the wider question of why an incident at the plant could cause a major outage. In a statement Tuesday, deputy leader Shanendon Cartwright called on the government to set out a strategy for protecting power stations, substations and transmission infrastructure.
“Lightning may explain what triggered the latest power outage, but it cannot excuse the continued vulnerability of New Providence’s electricity system,” Cartwright said.
He asked whether lightning protection and surge suppression systems at Blue Hills were fully operational, what backup capacity existed in the transmission network, and which upgrades would be made and when. He also raised the economic cost of outages, saying small businesses lose revenue when electricity fails.
Cartwright commended BPL crews for their work assessing the damage and restoring supply, but said the government must address the grid’s ability to withstand future storms.
“Bahamians deserve more than explanations after the lights go out. We deserve a strategy that keeps them on,” Cartwright said.
