Electricity affected: Muthuvel

PNG Power Ltd’s (PPL) aging infrastructure is affecting electricity generation throughout the country, an official says.
State Enterprises Minister Sasindran Muthuvel told Parliament yesterday that in addition to PPL’s infrastructure issues, the Ramu 2 power project was yet to start.
National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop wanted to know whether PPL had plans for expansion to meet the demands of the city.
Muthuvel said the additional generation capacity had been coming into play with the start of independent power producer (IPP) Niu-Power with 50 megawatts of power into the Port Moresby grid six months ago.
“By the end of this year, we will be having oversupply in the city and we will be looking at how we could utilise that power once another IPP, Dirio, comes on board by October or November with additional capacity of 40 megawatts,” he said.
“The major challenge is the aging infrastructure, especially in the Port Moresby grid and I’m thankful that World Bank is funding about K100 million (US$30mil) to Port Moresby and Ramu grid.
“If these grids are running properly they have the potential of achieving 70 per cent of the population getting connected to electricity.”
Muthvel acknowledged that there was a lack of power capacity to supply various institutions in the country and especially in Eastern Highlands.
“I want to assure him (Daulo MP Pogio Ghate) that I will pass these concerns to the PPL board and the management to address the two issues,” he said.
“The power inconsistency is not specific to Eastern Highlands, we have been experiencing the same events in all the provinces.
“It’s all related to the aged infrastructure, aged transformers and systems.
“I thank the World Bank and all our development partners for their support to replace some of these old infrastructure in Ramu and Port Moresby grids.
“We have been in serious discussions with other provinces, with New Ireland and other selected provinces where we can transfer these responsibilities with training and with capacity.”