Demand for power high

SOME of Lae’s power problems can be blamed on the sudden upsurge in demand due to increased business activities in the city.
PNG Power’s regional manager Martin Digiglen said the recent power outages in Lae had been due to flooding at the Ramu power station coupled with equipment problems in Lae.
But the more pressing issue, he said, was that more and more customers were visiting the Lae office requiring new connections with the demand in Lae suddenly going up.
Digiglen said PPL usually had 10 to 15-year plans and the sudden upsurge in the last two years had been unplanned and had put pressure on existing power supplies.
The introduction of LNG into the country  meant an increase, and Lae was one centre experiencing a huge increase in power demands.
Digiglen said, however, poor management of connections in Lae in the past meant the general public had been affected when a new premises was connected.
“Major customers need to tell us in advance how much power they and when they need it so that we can plan for them and not unnecessarily disturb power supply to our existing customers. We also have to prepare ourselves and have power plans to cater for them,” he said.
No proper planning and ad hoc connections in the past, he said, had also contributed to Lae experiencing blackouts.
The aging generators and other equipment that were brought from overseas take time to be cranked up again because of the delay in waiting for new parts to come from manufacturers overseas. 
The Lae PPL  boss is adamant, however, that the problems with equipment and other issues can be dealt with and the situations with blackouts will slowly be rectified.
Lae has been experiencing power problems towards the end of last week and again this week.
The total demand for Lae city is estimated at between 35MW and 40MW.
Meanwhile, former chief executive officer and fellow of the Institution of Engineers PNG, Finkewe Zurenuoc has said the continuous power blackouts in Lae was accredited to negligence and incompetence, a case  like the road system, infrastructures established and for some reasons, forgotten.  
She was of the view that the Ramu hydro power station at Yonki, which was constructed and commissioned initially in 1973 and in the 1980s, had reduced its production capacity through wear and tear processes and no regular maintenance had been done on them.