The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

MASSIVE load shedding is expected throughout the weekend and will continue until Bahamas Electricity Corporation technicians complete emergency repairs on three engines at the Clifton Pier power plant, a BEC source confirmed to The Big T yesterday.

However, officials at the Corporation through a press statement only confirmed difficulties with two engines that would result in periods of supply interruption to residents in New Providence.

BEC predicted that at least one of those engines would be repaired by late yesterday evening.

“The Bahamas Electricity Corporation,” the statement explained, “advises its customers in New Providence that it is experiencing challenges on its generation network that have and will continue to result in periods of supply interruption for residence.

“BEC maintains that crews are conducting emergency repairs on two engines and hope to have at least one repaired by late Friday, the other may require additional time to complete repairs. In the meantime, efforts are being made to ensure that outages are not for any inordinate time.

“The Corporation apologises to its customers impacted by these periods of supply interruption and ensures them that best efforts are being made to control the frequency and duration of these outages.

“BEC will continue to provide updates on the progress of repairs in the next 24 to 48 hours.”

This latest challenge with power generation of BEC comes during a summer that has been plagued with darkness, the result of widespread service disruptions.

Last month, thousands of BEC customers were without electricity after “generator challenges” at the Blue Hills Power Station interrupted the supply to more than 50 per cent of New Providence.

In June, five of BEC’s engines were struck by lightning leading to widespread power outages throughout the island.

The outage lasted almost 12 hours and was followed by others as the corporation resorted to load shedding until all the generators were up and running at full capacity.

Following that blackout, the government hired four American consultants to assess the problems at BEC and make recommendations.