BPL could miss target for engines back on line

Bahamas Power and Light headquarters.

As of Tuesday, August 27, 2019

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Power & Light has encountered difficulties bringing its engines online and has been forced to reassess the time it will take to repair the units, the company said yesterday.

The company is bringing in an outside specialist to repair the equipment, but said impending Tropical Storm Dorian could impact the specialist’s arrival.

BPL said it ran into issues with both of its down units at the Blue Hills Power Station, which represents 44 megawatts of unavailable power.

BPL said in assessing the state of its 21-megawatt unit, it “identified an additional mechanical problem”.

BPL also said: “…To properly repair the issue, we have identified an outside specialist who is off the island. The impending tropical storm could impact the specialist’s arrival, but we are working diligently to bring them to the island. Additionally, we’re working to source the replacement parts for the equipment that we could need for the repair, depending on the specialist’s assessment, to ensure we have the needed parts on hand for repair. We believe this latest setback and the potential of an interruption due to the impending storm will push back our original timeline for getting this unit back online. Once the specialist is on site we will have a better ability to determine the impact to the timeline.”

BPL originally estimated that it will take seven to ten days to repair its system, but it now has to reassess the timeline.

The company further said: “Tests have continued on the BHPS 2nd unit (23-megawatt). While the unit passed many of the initial hurdles, some of the tests over the last 24 hours have revealed additional concerns with the unit. A specialist will be arriving on site (Wednesday) to evaluate and look to address these issues. Until the specialist arrives, it’s unclear what this delay will do to our repair and testing timeline, but we will update the public and our timeline once we have accurate information.”

BPL has been load shedding since June due to issues with the utility provider’s equipment.

Well_mudda_take_sic 5 years, 3 months ago

All voters need to have the BPL debacle foremost in mind when Hubert Minnis and the FNM party next ask for their support and vote in a general election. No government in the history of the Bahamas has ever been so incompetent and incapable of governing. Our only salvation thus far has been the robust and resilient health of the U.S. economy since President Trump took office in early 2017, but the longest bull market run in U.S. history is becoming increasingly strained and many believe it will end in a crash sometime next year.. As the tide of a booming U.S. economy flows out, the gross incompetence of the Minnis-led FNM government will be exposed like never before for all to see and experience in a most vicious way. Minnis and his merry band of bandits have squandered, through their incompetence, vital preparations that should have been made over the past two years for an impending serious downturn in our economy. Not only are we going to be be without a reliable source of electricity, but also a reliable source of water. The writing is on the wall as plain as day for all to see.

Dawes 5 years, 3 months ago

No Government in the history of the Bahamas has ever been so incompetent and incapable of governing except for the one before and the one before that. You know the ones who also dealt with load shedding every summer (not as bad as this one) and did nothing. At least this one is getting a new power plant built (though this should have been done within the first two years). So yes this Government is bad but nothing on the last few who knew this day was coming and did nothing.

geostorm 5 years, 3 months ago

there goes @well_mudda again, the voice of gloom doom and destruction against the government of the people of the Bahamas. If I didn't know better, I would say that you are lashing out at the government like a woman scorned!

Well_mudda_take_sic 5 years, 3 months ago

Why don't you tell all of us about the bright outlook you see for the Bahamas based on everything that the Minnis-led FNM government has done and caused to happen since May 2017? Feel free to take some LSD if you think that will help you better convey the picture whirling around in your head of great improvement in the lives of most Bahamians. Most of us live in the real world we experience daily....as opposed to the fantasy land you seem to be living in. Ignorance is bliss and that might just help you live longer than many of your fellow Bahamians who now periodically contemplate suicide as a means to free themselves from the horribly stressful conditions under which they must live day in and day out.

concernedcitizen 5 years, 3 months ago

@muddo you distort so many facts to suit your bias its laughable .The U S economy has been on a 10 year run , Trump has only been in office about 3 years ,,

You cut the cloth so much to fit your bias there is no thread left .The U S bull market has been 10 years , Trump has only been in power about three years .Obama took the unemployment rate down from about 9 % to just over 4% ..Trump took it 1 % more while running trillion dollar deficits , the only time Obama ran trillion dollar deficits wwas coming out of the recession .Obama took the markets from a low of 8000 to about 22000 ,,Trump took them to 27000 but now they are sliding back .If you average it out they both run about a 2.5 gdp growth . Now we have not been able to provide reliable electricity since the late 1970 ,s .Is it worse now yes , is their sabotage now ,, more than likely .Don,t let the union boss or any of his goons anywhere near the 95 million worth of new generators the present government just purchased . Why do you think they have to bring in foreign "specialist " good lord the loud mouth union boss practically says we are breaking it up .The last thing the union boss wants is for Shell N A or someone else to take it over , they won,t be able to scares us with the thought of shutting down the country every Christmas to extort the treasury . It took us 46 years to get here not 3 years of Minnis .

Well_mudda_take_sic 5 years, 3 months ago

You watch too much fake cable TV news, e.g. MSNBC, CNN, etc. Growth in the U.S. economy under Obama was anemic at best and unemployment remained unacceptably high, especially among younger minority groups. By comparison, growth under Trump has literally been explosive with record employment rates across the board.

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