Needsmust Power Plant Generator
Photo By Erasmus Williams
Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
Novemeber 05, 2008 (CUOPM)
A faulty isolator switch is responsible for Tuesday night’s island-wide power failure, while thousands of residents were watching of results of the United States Presidential Elections.
“At 23:11 Power Station Maintenance personnel at the Needsmust Power Station reported an abnormal burning smell in the area of the Switch Gear Room in the upper station. A subsequent observation revealed thick smoke in the area of the upper station distribution panel. It added that as a safety precaution, the entire upper station was de-energised,” said the Power Plant Superintendent, Kevin Bennett, explaining that the generators and feeders were taken offline.
“This included the Holeby # 1 and Holeby # 2 engines. The 8MB 430 was offline for planned maintenance at the time as well as the Cayon, S.S.M.C. South East Peninsula, Basseterre North, Port Zante and Canada feeders,” the Bennett said.
He said that this action however caused the system to become unstable resulting in engines in the lower station tripping offline. Feeders in the lower station were opened in order to restore stability.
Engines in the lower station were restarted and placed online resulting in the closing of feeders (Basseterre South, Industrial Site, Frigate Bay and Bayfords) in the lower station.
“Necessary checks and repairs were carried out and the upper station generators and feeders were energized. Full restoration was completed by approximately 03:45,” said Bennett in the statement.
He said that the Management at the Needsmust Power Station sincerely apologises for the disruption in the supply of electricity.