City power cuts to continue

 PORT Moresby residents can expect more power disruptions today as PNG Power Limited tries to fix a faulty diesel generator at the Moitaka power station.

A statement from acting chief executive officer John Yanis yesterday advised the public in the National Capital District and surrounding areas that load shedding was carried out yesterday “due to the failure of a diesel generator at the Moitaka power station”.

“The load shedding exercise is expected to continue tomorrow (today) until the generator is fixed,” Yanis said.

“PNG Power engineers are working to bring this six-megawatt generator back on line as PNG Power is depending mainly on the thermal power stations at Moitaka and the two power stations at Kanudi to supply electricity to NCD and surrounding areas.

“Generation capacity at the four Rouna hydro-power stations have been reduced due to the low level of water at the Sirinumu Dam caused by the long dry weather.”

He said PNG Power currently had a generation capacity of 118 megawatts.

“But with the shortfall of six megawatts, the capacity has been reduced and is not able to meet the system’s demand of 115mw.” He advised customers with standby generators to use them.

Power cuts in Port Moresby became more frequent after the Pacific Games last year, despite promises by the Government that disruptions to power supply in the capital city would be a thing of the past.