Montserrat Utilities Limited (MUL) said Thursday that customers can expect to experience power outages, especially at night for the foreseeable future until another generator is repaired.
“MUL’s Electricity Generation Department is currently operating at reduced generating capacity,” a statement released by the Ministry of Communications, Works, Labour, and Energy said.
According to MUL, “At the end of June our No 6 generator, shortly after being overhauled, experienced a major turbocharger failure where three out of four were damaged. We had an external technician come on island a week ago to assist MUL to return the set to service. Although it is functional again it still requires another part which we have ordered and expect in the next few weeks.” the statement read.
“By the end of July, we had four of our five generators working and part of the solar farm providing power. However, in mid-August our No 3 generator also developed a serious problem and has been offline since then. Working with our partners the solution was recently identified and the parts have now been ordered and are being rush delivered to Montserrat. We anticipate that the No 3 engine will again be generating electricity towards the end of next week.
“As a result of the extended running times two of our older high-speed generators (Nos 5 and 4), which were both overdue for overhauls, suffered critical failures on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. Our best estimate is that it will take at least 6 – 7 months to return to No. 5 to service. Meanwhile our technical staff have been working around the clock for the last two days making emergency repairs to the No. 4 set in an effort to bring it back into service to provide greater stability in the short term.
“Overnight, in order to perform minor works on No. 6 generator, the company is forced to switch off the electricity supply in several areas, due to the fact that there is no reserve capacity.
“Further updates will be given as changes occur,” the power company said.
