Rupture in cooling system causes power outage.
Photo By Erasmus Williams
Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
February 04, 2009 (CUOPM)
Flooding as a result of a rupture in one of the cooling system of a generator at the Needsmust Power Plant caused an island-wide blackout at two minutes to eight Wednesday morning.
A statement from the Electricity Department said the sudden surge of water affected KV12 #1 alternator cable, causing a three phase over current fault which not only shorted the alternator causing the breaker to open, but was strong enough to destabilize the system and caused a blackout.
“After the source of the problem was successfully isolated, the restoration began at 8:30 with the closure of the Bayfords and Canada feeders. However at 8.50 the system again became unstable and forced the opening of the aforementioned feeders to stabilise it,” said the statement.
It added that once the state of balance was attained restoration again began with the closure of the Frigate bay feeder at 8:52 A.M. and ended with the closure of the Southeast Peninsula feeder at 10:00 A.M.
The Department has apologised to consumers for the disruption in the supply of electricity.
Time to buy a backup generator!