Engine fault prompted BPL load shedding

Engine fault prompted BPL load shedding
Bahamas Power and Light Headquarters on Baillou Hill Road.

No additional load shedding planned, sources say

 

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – A fault with an engine at Bahamas Power and Light’s (BPL) Blue Hills power plant on Wednesday prompted the power provider to carry out load shedding for nearly three hours that morning, Eyewitness News Online understands.

Customers in western and eastern New Providence were impacted around 9:30 a.m.

BPL’s Director of Public Relations Quincy Parker reported that the load shedding ended just before noon and power was restored to most impacted customers.

Areas impacted, including Marathon Estates, Highbury Park, Solider Road, Oakes Field, Sandyport, and Westridge north and south, among other areas.

However, there was no indication as to why BPL carried out the exercise nor any notice on whether it could persist this week.

According to sources, who were not authorized to speak about the matter, the engine issue was resolved and there was no additional load shedding planned.

BPL advised customers in Long Island Wednesday that it was carrying out load shedding as of noon due to “operational issues”.

It said as a result “the entire island may experience a disruption in the electricity supply”.

Commercial customers, utility companies, gas stations, and hotels on the islands were still without power as of yesterday morning.

In a statement yesterday, BPL said it expected to restore power on the island by 1 p.m.

The power provider was challenged to keep the power on in New Providence in the weeks and months following four fires last September.

Three of the fires occurred at the power provider’s Clifton Pier Power Stations.

The cause of those fires remains unknown.

Authorities wrapped up their investigation, which was expected to be tabled in Parliament by the minister responsible, but that did not happen.

A fourth impacted a distribution centre at BPL’s Blue Hills power plant, which resulted in parts of New Providence being left without electricity for more than 12 hours.

That fire was reportedly caused by equipment failure.

About Royston Jones Jr.

Royston Jones Jr. is a senior digital reporter and occasional TV news anchor at Eyewitness News. Since joining Eyewitness News as a digital reporter in 2018, he has done both digital and broadcast reporting, notably providing the electoral analysis for Eyewitness News’ inaugural election night coverage, “Decision Now 2021”.