Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) chairman Romney Thomas says the Trinidad Generation Unlimited’s (TGU) shutdown over the weekend was successful, adding there were no power outages related to work at the plant in La Brea.
Speaking to Guardian Media yesterday, Thomas acknowledged that there were fears among some people that there would be a blackout when the upgrade and maintenance work began at 10 pm Saturday. However, he said a blackout was never the intention, nor did it materialise thankfully.
“The shutdown was planned. T&TEC knew it was coming months in advance, so the other IPPs (Independent Power Producers) had enough time to prepare for the full availability of their machines. Anyone who had to do maintenance work on machines might have gone ahead and made sure they were available. It was a successful operation because the maintenance plan showed that it went without issues,” Thomas said.
In its advisory last week, T&TEC said the shutdown would run from 10 pm on Saturday and end at 9 am yesterday. It advised that two other IPPs, PowerGen and Contour Global Trinity Power, would supply the required capacity to satisfy the expected demand load in Trinidad. Had any of the IPPs suffered any loss of generation during the TGU shutdown, it might have resulted in T&TEC having to shed load, which could have led to a temporary loss of electricity supply to some customers.
Thomas explained that problems could occur with machines and cause them to trip, so an outage was always possible during the period in question. However, he said this did not mean an island wide blackout would have occurred, but conceded there could have been a temporary outage in certain areas. This, he said, was why T&TEC alerted the population of the impending operation and asked them to moderate their electricity usage so there would not be too much load on the system. He said the shutdown’s timing was also crucial, as there is less demand during nighttime.
The TGU also issued a media release, saying it had successfully completed the maintenance exercise and Distributed Control System (DCS) upgrade at 5.27 am. It said the upgraded DCS system will enhance and maintain efficient power delivery from TGU to T&TEC.
The work will also allow TGU to maximise the utilisation of its critical ‘fuel-free’ steam cycle, contributing 37.5 per cent (270MW) of output without the need for natural gas as fuel.
“TGU has placed on the grid all six gas turbine generators and is working at attaining full capacity with the steam turbines in complete operation.
“We remain committed to ensuring that our operations support the country’s energy needs,” the release stated.
TGU also commended the employees who executed the maintenance and upgrade works and those who supported the plant operations.
A media release from the Ministry of Public Utilities yesterday stated that TGU had advised T&TEC that it completed the scheduled upgrade work at its Union Industrial Estate plant, which necessitated a total plant shutdown by TGU, and was fully back online. As such, the other IPPs, PowerGen and Contour Global Trinity Power, were instructed to return to normal operations.
Minister of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzales thanked the three IPPs for the collaborative work to allow for the smooth completion of TGU’s upgrade works. He also commended all employees and partners who worked to ensure all processes went as planned and no outages were required, even with the country’s primary power plant shut down.
“We are also grateful to customers for their assistance in managing their consumption over the period,” the release stated.