Widespread blackout as power plant fails

Though it usually takes one hour or less to restore power outages, this was not so last week Thursday evening as many members of the general public had to dwell in a widespread sea of darkness as a result of power failure by the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Electricity Services (Vinlec).

In an interview with SEARCHLIGHT, Tamara Job Vinlec’s Communications Officer stated that the power failure came about as a result of a reconfiguration exercise where they were trying to integrate the Lowmans Bay Power Plant to the existing power systems in the country.{{more}}

According to her, the major problem came about as a result of the restoration process, hence causing the long delay in the restoration of power to the public.

“When we were trying to restore the power to the entire island, the technicians at Cane Hall encountered further problems synchronizing Cane Hall with the other power plants,” she told SEARCHLIGHT.

“During the integration process we may have problems and if this happens we will try to ensure that the disruption is minimised,” Job further stated.

When asked about the official opening of the Lowmans Bay Power Plant, Job told SEARCHLIGHT that it was scheduled to be opened in January but due to delays the date had to be postponed.

She however stated that the project is almost complete and will be finished in the near future, but in the mean time there may be power outages during the integration process.

The power failure lasted for almost two and half-hours.