Shift causing outages

The National Business

Reports by CLARISSA MOI in Vanimo
CONTINUOUS power outages recently experienced in Port Moresby and other parts of the country are a result of PNG Power Ltd’s transition from diesel to gas, State Enterprises Minister Sasindran Muthuvel says.
Responding to questions from the media on continuous power outages being experienced, Muthuvel said the continuous outages were mainly technical.
“PNG Power has embarked into a fuel switch, from diesel to gas,” he said.
“NiuPower Ltd has already came into full generation. Some of those tipping issues to evacuate power from NiuPower to the main grid.
“So there are some technical issues that they are dealing with NiuPower to ensure that there’s a smooth flow of power generated by gas also.
“So once they resolve the technical issues, there will be steady flow of power,” he said.
NiuPower is already giving an output of more than 32 megawatts.
It has a capacity of up to 54 megawatts.
Muthuvel said there was also an incident where a vehicle crashed into a power pole which also affected power supply which PNG Power was resolving. “So to me, it’s more technical than financial,” he said.
“Of course we always have financial issues for the government departments who owe PNG Power, like the PNG Defence Force and Police Department.
“Every government department owes money not only to PNG Power but Water PNG, so put together at any point in time, the Treasury Department owes the utility companies whether it’s power, telecommunications, water or Air Niugini, the government owes SOEs at least K200 million.
“These are really important money for their cash flow.”
Muthuvel said 99 per cent of the blackouts previously could be attributed to the issue of non-payment and fuel.
“And now, it’s more technical compared to previous outages.
“Of course there are tipping issues of getting generation of NiuPower out.
“And also by end of this year, Dirio will also come into production.
“So once those companies (NiuPower and Dirio Gas and Power Company Ltd) come into power generation, PNG Power will be helped in terms of switching from its fuel from diesel to gas.”