“Faults occurring in existing generators and a transformer” caused several power outages across Montserrat over the past three weeks, Montserrat Utility Limited (MUL) has said.
A press release on Wednesday, 27 March, spoke briefly about the intermittent blackouts.
It said a series of events unfolded in the generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure.
“The initial disruption occurred with the periodic tripping out of generator number three – subsequent issues led to the reliance on older, smaller generators,” MUL said.
Meanwhile, the commissioning of the new generator, number eight, bought last year, is now complete and fully operational.
This is expected to alleviate most of the challenges experienced with the electricity generation operations and bring greater stability to the island’s power supply.
“This milestone represents a significant step forward for the Island’s power infrastructure,” the press release said.
“With generator number eight now online, we anticipate a more stable and resilient power supply for the island moving forward.”
MUL thanked those involved in the commissioning process and community members for their patience.
Ongoing issues
Montserrat’s electricity and water provider has suffered from financial and infrastructure problems for a long time.
In February, Deputy Premier Samuel Joseph described MUL as a “hot potato” issue which has been passed from one administration to the next.
He said the private company owned by the Government of Montserrat has made very little profit in ten years and has got to a point where it had nearly exhausted its reserves.
However, staff at his ministry have been able to obtain the money and work on addressing issues in a practical way, he said. This includes replacing failing equipment.
In December last year, in light of the ongoing financial difficulties, the government asked the MUL board to resign immediately.
The new board now includes the government’s financial secretary, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Communication, Works, Labour and Energy, and MUL’s chief engineer.
