Tripping, vehicular accident blamed for electricity interruption on Saturday

Needsmust Power Plant (photo by Erasmus Williams)

“The 8MB 430 tripped offline causing the one of the Holeby engines, and the Mirrlees K8 to trip offline also. All feeders except Bayfords and Industrial Site were opened in order to restore the system balance,” said Superintendent of the Needsmust Power Station, Mr. Kevin Bennett, who added that at the time of the occurrence the 2nd Holeby was offline for scheduled work.

He said in a statement on Monday that checks were carried out on all offline generators and auxiliary equipment and the restoration process began with the closing of the Frigate Bay feeder.

Mr. Bennett said that by 2:25 P.M. most of the restoration had been completed when a fault resulted in the Basseterre North, Basseterre South, S.S.M.C., Port Zante and Sandy Point tripping offline.

“Checks were carried out, the necessary adjustments were made and the system restoration continued. At 16:48 (4:48 P.M.) power was restored to all areas of the island with the closing of Cayon feeder,” said Mr. Bennett.  ~~Adz:Right~~

The Power Station superintendent said that around six ‘o’ clock on Saturday night, a vehicular accident on the Sandy Point feeder damaged a pole and resulted in loss of power on the Sandy Point feeder.

This caused the system to become unstable resulting in the 8MB 430 tripping offline and the opening of the feeders at the Industrial Site, Frigate Bay and Basseterre North to stabilise the system.

“Repair work was carried out to the transmission lines on the Sandy Point feeder by field technicians resulting in the supply of power. By 19:45 the restoration was completed with the closing of the Basseterre North feeder,” said Mr. Bennett.