Work on transmission lines start

WORK has started on the construction of a double circuit 66kilovolt transmission line from the Niupower plant to the Gerehu sub-station.
The transmission line will transfer power generated by the independent power producer (IPP) NiuPower to the Port Moresby grid.
Contractor Voltran transmission line specialist, has constructed 100 poles out of the 380 required for the transmission line.
The line will allow all of NiuPower power to be evacuated – the current T525 line can do 38 megawatts.
Meanwhile, PNG Power Ltd (PPL) acting chief executive officer Douglas Mageo said the current load shedding exercise across the country would continue as it continued to conserve its fuel supplies while reducing fuel expenses.
Mageo explained that while the government had been making payments, these payments had settled only current amounts owed, while amounts in arrears totalled up to K38 million.
“This continues to place significant pressure on PNG Power to meet payment obligations to critical suppliers,” he said.
“This situation should ease dramatically in Port Moresby once electricity is able to be supplied from the NiuPower gas plant in early 2020, upon completion of the transmission line, as a greater proportion of generation is sourced from cheaper renewable energy in hydro and gas.
“In the provincial centres, where the majority of energy produced is generated from thermal generators, load shedding will be an ongoing exercise,” Mageo said.