The Tribune

Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) yesterday said its winter maintenance overhaul has begun with one unit at Clifton Pier Power Station being taken off-line for 25 days.

The state-owned energy monopoly, in a statement, said the DA13 diesel engine was removed from the grid on Monday as planned.

It added that this was part of its Winter Action Plan, a months’ long effort to ensure generation units properly receive their annual servicing and maintenance. This, in turn, extends the life of BPL’s generation fleet and is designed to ensure all engines are functioning during summer to meet peak demand.

The DA13 unit has been in service at Clifton Pier since 2006, and accounts for up to 18 megawatts (MW) of power daily. The unit will undergo a full system diagnostic along with needed servicing before being brought back on to the grid in March. The work schedule is designed to avoid any disruption in service for customers.

Dr Donovan Moxey, BPL’s chairman, said: “We are committed to solving the problems our leadership team inherited here at BPL. We are going to ‘right the ship’ and bring reliability back for our customers.

“As part of our turnaround strategy, our Winter Action Plan will provide critical maintenance to these units during the non-peak winter months, when the engines can be removed from the grid and repaired without impacting the electricity supply.”