Hydro-power station to be shut down for maintenance

ELECTRICITY consumers in East New Britain have been advised by PNG Power Ltd of the shutting down of the Warangoi hydro-power station next weekend for maintenance work.
The shutdown in from Saturday June 18 and Sunday 1.
This is to allow the PPL maintenance crew to replace old water filtration screens at the Warangoi Dam intake.
Chief executive officer Chris Bais in a statement said: “There will also be work in replacing old circuit breakers at the Warangoi Power Station area at the same time.
“A load shedding schedule that is out on the papers as well will see load-shedding start on Saturday morning at 5am, and full restoration of Warangoi hydropower is expected at 6pm Sunday evening.
“The work on the intake area will also include urgent patching work to be done on the concrete base, which was created by the river current.
“The work on the installation of new primary screens (filtration) and the patching will require diversion of the Warangoi River where the hydro intake is feeding.
“During the shutdown, East New Britain customers will experience load shedding, as power generation will be limited to the Ulagunan Power Station and the Toboi Power Station in Rabaul.
“Total power generation in East New Britain (Warango i Hydro, Ulagunan and CPL Toboi) is 17.54 MW. “During the shutdown, generation will drop down to 5.10mw , with a shortfall of 12.44mw. Gazelle customers have a load demand of 9.87mw .
“Customers are advised to use standby generators for any generation shortfall in their areas. Load Shedding Notices will be published in the daily papers and on the PNG Power Ltd Facebook page.”