Addition of 54 megawatts stabilises Port Moresby grid: PPL

THE addition of the 54-megawatt Edevu hydro-power plant to the Port Moresby grid in October 2023 stabilised it, according to PNG Power Limited acting chief executive officer Nehemaiah Naris.
“The reliability performance in Port Moresby has seen significant improvement in peak electricity demand,” Naris said in a statement.
He clarified that there was no load shedding carried out in the Port Moresby grid as reported by The National on Wednesday, March 27. (The newspaper had based its report on a PNG Power statement released on March 26.)
Naris said PNG Power had sufficient electricity generation available to supply power to Port Moresby residents. But Naris said that individual feeder faults occurred rather than the entire Port Moresby system.
“We are aware of these feeders and are undertaking maintenance work to reduce power outages,” he said.
Naris added that PNG Power will commission the new Bomana/Moitaka-to-Gerehu feeder this month to improve power-reliability in the suburbs of Gerehu and Rainbow.
“Work will also commence this month (April) on the new express line to the Gordon industrial hub to improve power supply to our large load customers in that suburb,” he said.
Naris added that power outages in the Highlands region were mostly due to vandalism and severe weather conditions.
“Last Thursday (March 28), there was a landslip between Kundiawa and Mt Hagen, which fell a transmission pole, and the vandalism of a transmission pole between Paunda and Mt Hagen, which affected the power supply to our customers in Jiwaka, Mt Hagen, and Wabag,” he said. He added that PNG Power was educating the people about their responsibility to look after power transmission assets.