Firm hopes to start city power supply soon

National

NIUPOWER hopes to start power supply to the Port Moresby grid as soon as regulatory approvals are obtained, according to chief executive officer Mike Uiari.
“All of us here in Port Moresby are disappointed with the ongoing regular interruptions to power supply in recent months,” he said.
“There is no question that the key motives behind the support for the NiuPower Port Moresby power station project, by both PNG Power Ltd and NiuPower’s shareholders, was to bring down the cost of power generation and increase the reliability of power supply in Port Moresby”.
Uiari said the NiuPower Port Moresby power station was completed and commissioned in May and has been available for the supply of 58MW to the PNG Power Port Moresby power grid since.
“Unfortunately, we faced delays in obtaining two key regulatory approvals,” he said.
“One required by NiuPower (and only received in October) and one required by our gas supplier the PNG LNG project.
“The latter is still pending and we require both to supply power to PPL.”
“PPL had said the NiuPower Port Moresby power station online will save them and subsequently the nation, approximately K100 million per year.”