BAHAMAS: BPL Daily Updates

#Nassau, September 18, 2019 – Bahamas –

• Today’s Load Shortage – 22.2 megawatts
• Tomorrow’s Estimated Load Shortage – 30 megawatts

• Today’s Projected Average Power Outage –
• Tomorrow’s Estimated Average Power Outage- 3 Hours

• Average Power Outage (Last 24hrs): 3 Hours

Our current availability is 212.8 megawatts against an expected day peak of 230 megawatts and an expected evening peak of 235 megawatts.

CURRENT SITUATION & REMEDIATION STEPS:

The replacement diesel starter engine arrived yesterday as scheduled, and is even now being integrated into the workflow for the first unit at the Blue Hills Power Station (BHPS). The two new generation specialists also arrived as scheduled, and are leading the investigation into the second unit at BHPS. We are looking to have at least one of these two units at BHPS back in service sometime during the last week in September. The new timeline is being reassessed daily as work progresses. We will continue to update the public as our efforts continue.

UNIT 1:

The team has moved the replacement diesel starting engine for Unit 1 (23MW) into the workshop to begin preparing the starting engine for connection and alignment to the unit. The next step in the progression is to successfully restart the unit, which we expect to attempt within the next few days. Once restarted, we can resume testing, and we hope to have the unit back online sometime in the final week of September.

Timetable: Expected completion date in the final week of September.

UNIT 2:

The troubleshooting on Unit 2 (21MW) continues, with the team today investigating the hydraulic system for the interface with the diesel engine. The two generator specialists are continuing their investigation, with several components under investigation. Solving the issue with the diesel engine interface is a prerequisite to running the unit up to speed, which will allow us to get a second set of vibrational readings to further analysis of the vibration issue preventing this unit from going on full load. We continue to assess our September 25th timetable as work on the unit moves forward.

Timetable: Assessed completion date September 25th .

OTHER BPL INFORMATION

We continue to concentrate efforts on these two units at BHPS because together they have a total output of 44 megawatts, which more than makes up the generation deficit we face during peak energy consumption hours. That generation deficit is what has led to the heavy load shedding.

Release: BPL