New Holeby Generators In St. Kitts
Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
October 21, 2010 (SKNIS)
St. Kitts is about to embark on its largest increase in power capacity ever undertaken in the Federation.
Engineer, Mr. Terry Burn who was conducting a site tour with Minister of Works and Public Utilities Hon Dr. Earl Asim Martin, explained that two of four recently purchased four megawatt Holeby generators, which arrived in August are undergoing final checks and should start full service by the end of the month.
Mr. Burn explained that the preparatory work such as the construction of enclosures and piping, which were being undertaken over the past months have prepared the site sufficiently to see the generators in operation this soon. He added that another two generators which arrived early this month will be ready for operation by February 2011.
This will add 15.6 megawatts of capacity to the present electrical load capacity in St. Kitts.
Commenting on this achievement, Minister Martin said not only would the new generators greatly improve the supply of electricity but they will also upgrade the working conditions of power station employees, who have been working in a very stressful environment given the impact of increased development on the demand for power.
The minister of Public Utilities added that although the purchase of the generators would be beneficial, he was also cognizant of the significance in light of present global economic challenges.
He stated that it would greatly increase operational expenses due to increased fuel costs and additional staff including staff with the skills to man the new system.
“There has been extensive training programme with the maintenance staff to bring them up to a high level of efficiency� as part of the continuous maintenance programme.”
Additional infrastructure such as a spare parts storage area, control room and alarm system have been put in place.
There is also a remote control panel at the Needsmust Power Station from which the generators can be controlled.
MAN is the manufacturer of these generators, 4,000 0f which are in operation worldwide.