Government in talks with Bosai to add additional power to electricity grid in Linden

As the town of Linden continues to experience severe load-shedding due to a reported surge in demand for power linked to the increasing number of sawmills now operating in the town, the Government has started talks with the Bosai Bauxite company to add an additional 3 megawatts of power to the electricity grid in the town, while it awaits the completion of three large-scale solar farms that are expected to generate some 15 additional megawatts of power.

In Linden, the Bosai company produces electricity for the local grid with the power being supplied to the Linden Electricity Company Inc. (LECI) and the Linden Utility Services Co-op Society (LUSCSL) for sale to the town’s residents.

In a statement on Sunday, LECI said the intermittent power outages currently plaguing the town is as a result of a critical generation shortfall.

It was explained that the company’s current maximum available generation capacity stands at 14.5 megawatts. However, in recent weeks, the town’s peak demand has surged to more than 15 megawatts.

Like the Government, the Linden Electricity company has attributed the rapid increase in demand to the ongoing El Nino weather phenomenon. However at a press conference on Friday, Public Utilities Minister, Deodat Indar, said the growing number of sawmills in the town has placed the grid under significant pressure as their power use is far greater than the town’s population.

At present, there are a total of 32 sawmills in the town – 24 on Mackenzie – the eastern shore – and 8 on the western shore, Wismar.

“They have 32 sawmills set up in Region 10, and those 32 sawmills use mostly Wood-Mizer to cut the wood and they use a high speed motor. A high speed motor uses a lot of power that has added to the demand significantly in Linden,” Minister Indar explained.

It was explained that sawmill operators have been drawn to Linden due to the fact the electricity rate in the mining town is significantly lower when compared to the rates in Georgetown and other areas.

LECI has stated that in order to prevent a total grid collapse and protect the system’s integrity, it has been forced to implement scheduled load-shedding (rolling blackouts) during peak demand periods. Saw-millers have also been asked to operate between the hours of 10:00pm and 11:00am, which is the period of lower demand. Hotel owners have also complained that they have been forced off the grid at specific times, leaving them no choice but to run on generators for most of the day.

Minister Indar said the Government is in talks with Bosai to add 3 megawatts of power to the local grid to stabilize the demand.

“We are also engaging Bosai to add an additional 3 megawatts of power to that grid. We are engaging them [while] the conservation is ongoing,” Minister Indar told reporters.

The Utilities Minister said the Government is also working to complete a 15 MV farm project to bolster the town’s power supply. The first phase of the solar installation is expected to be commissioned by the end of the year.

“We have one of the solar farms at Dacoura for 3 megawatts [and] it should finish by the end of the year. We have one at Block 37, that should finish by the end of the year too, that’s 4 megawatts. So, we should have 7 megawatts of solar power added to the grid by the end of the year. In Retrieve, we have a plant there, a solar plant that is going up for 8 megawatts, that is going into first quarter next year. So, there is a plan to deal with every aspect of generation across the country and the off grid systems that we have across the various townships,” Minister Indar said.

In the interim, the Government and LECI are appealing to consumers for their patience and understanding during this challenging period, even as the company apologizes for the inconvenience the disruptions continue to cause.

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