Unplanned Power Cuts Caused by Faults in South Feeder

Public Relations Officer of the Dominica Electricity Company (DOMLEC) Adina Bellot-Valentine says unplanned power cuts experienced over the weekend were caused by intermittent faults which occurred on the South feeder.

The company announced earlier that there would have been planned power cuts in a number of areas as it had shut down the entire Fond Cole power station, which is the main station, for essential maintenance.

She said the expectation was that the hydro units and the Sugar Loaf plants would carry the load.

“DOMLEC knows that the hydro units do not respond well to sudden load changes and so the work was planned for Sunday when the load is lighter than normal and fairly steady. While the Fond Cole plant was shut down for maintenance mentioned, intermittent faults occurred on the South Feeder. The first one occurred at about 10:30 a.m the second at about 1 p.m and the third at about 7:45 p.m. These faults caused the hydro units to trip offline and power had to be restored each time,” she said.

Despite having crews looking for the fault, the faults were located when customers from Castle Comfort and Dubique called in to report having seen sparks on the lines.