We can’t promise that power outages will stop — BVIEC
Amid promises to fix the longstanding woes at the BVI Electricity Corporation (BVIEC), General Manager Dr Neil Smith has explained that the organisation cannot promise that power outages will not occur in the future.
Smith said residents should note that all power-generating stations have challenges and it would be misleading to promise that power outages will be totally eliminated from BVIEC’s operations.
“All power stations have issues and with the distribution system we have, feeders will trip. So someone sitting in front of you telling you the power will not go off again is plain out misleading you,” Dr Smith explained.
“What we can do is institute mitigation measures, make sure we plan properly, make sure the station is secure so that we can give the public a reasonable assurance that the availability of energy will always be there.”
Dr Smith also said the BVIEC team is working to reduce issues at the Pockwood Pond power station but again emphasised that “issues won’t be eliminated” one hundred per cent.”
Residents and businesses have been complaining about the frequent and unplanned power outages that have been causing many inconveniences.
Earlier this week, Dr Smith said the outages are caused by the fact that residents are using more electricity than before, forcing the BVIEC to offload some users to maintain the resources they have.
Despite the challenge caused by the unprecedented local demand for electricity, the organisation still wants residents to continue usage, as it generates revenue. Smith also said the equipment works best when they’re operating at maximum capacity.
“I would never tell you to stop using power because essentially I would be selling you less and we’ll make less money. The generators we have operate more efficiently at higher loads so from an engineering standpoint, I would prefer them to be at maximum capacity at all times,” Dr Smith said.
In the meantime, Works Minister Kye Rymer has given the assurance that the technical and operational issues that are affecting the reliability of the electrical and water supply are receiving the highest priority attention from the government and BVIEC.
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The poor electricity supply is caused by poor management over the years and the lack of skilled planning and maintenance. Other poorer countries manage much better so why not the BVI? Get experts in to manage the situation and give us the service we deserve and already pay for.
Proper planning prevents poor performance, a lesson that few seem to have learned around here.
Solar energy systems (panel, sbatteries, inverters and transfer switches, properly installed) would alleviate loads on the grid When BVIEC has an outage, system switches to battery. When it comes back on, switches back to the grid.
I assume that the department focasted for the current demand and is prepared, and in doing so has already forecasted future demand, and all that is required for that, right?
If the department has indeed done so, then surely you are looking into equipment additions prior to demands exceeding potential supply and rolling brown outs.
Could the department advise us what their short term, medium term, and long-term planning consists off along with required capital investment at hand to handle such short-, medium-, and long-term plans?
Surely our media houses would ask such questions, hold such departments accountable and report to the public what is going on in a fair and equitable way?
No one will invest in a country with poor and unreliable power supply. If bvipc continue like this. Bvipc will become standby while everyone has their generator.
Maybe BVIEC should buy a cruise ship with electric propulsion to berth at the cruise pier and supply power to the BVI.
NO CONFIDENCE
The state of the BVI is the result of the A. Fahie experiment that started in 2019. Disbanding of boards with no rationale, first time in the history of the BVI, putting cronies with zero experience to sit on said boards to spend millions without results. Why are we surprised at where we are right now? The only shocker is that things are not 10 times worst. We are in serious trouble and none of the elected officials or senior civil servants are the answer, the Territory needs real leadership with a genuine passion to move things forward.
BUT you promise us so much and nothing happens. This time I believe your so right.
You can never afford a solar inverter system to carry your house for no time, perhaps a small home but apartments and inductive loads you will have to be rich, on that island outside virgin Gorda where those huge wind generator is, can everyone afford that? And that wind generator only occasionally hit 50% out put on windy days and for the solar when it cloudy only fractional output, but I am for that sort of a thing alternative power but that battery is serious cost and should be kept safe because they are explosive device. As I say again BVIEC need a few containerized generator for back up.
The report was going well until you mentioned the minister. People call him the action man and he started to swell. But action man can bring planes from Miami to beef island and can’t bring electricity and water to our homes from tola to tola. This man is overrated by far. Fat Albert had no choice but to choose the best at his disposal for deputy. Sl** man went even further down the line to choose actionless for a deputy.
We are a third world nation
Please uk. Take us back
You have said it all.
This man send off 7.5 mil and under investigation and all of a sudden what he says is credible? Incompetence at its highest level us what we are experiencing.
this country is fourth world
Has anyone remember when the BVIEC issued a statement that power outage is a thing of the past?