T&TEC still working on damaged Rousillac transmission tower

Work began on Wedensday at the Solomon Hochoy Highway extension in Rousillac, where damage to a transmission tower led to power outages in several parts of Trinidad on Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, a statement from the TT Electricity Commission (T&TEC) said phase one of repairs to the 220KV transmission tower was "severely compromised" owing to a landslip on Tuesday.

But customers who were affected by load-shedding at 9 am had their supply restored.

The statement said, "This initial phase of repairs significantly minimises the need for rolling load-shedding over the next few days and allows T&TEC to instal several poles and attendant lines to bypass the compromised section (tower and lines)."

The statement added that a further few brief outages might be required to carry out this solution fully.

Within a few hours, supply to the majority of affected customers was restored.

In the medium term, the utility said, "Engineering planning is ongoing to replace the damaged tower."

An earlier statement from the commission on Wednesday said generators were brought online by the independent power producers to restore supply to about 30 per cent of the affected customers in Trinidad.

The leaning tower can be seen from a distance. But media personnel were not allowed near the damaged tower on Wednesday. There were concrete barriers on the incomplete highway extension near Grant Trace where South Western Division police stood guard.

The police allowed T&TEC and National Infrastructure Development Company Ltd workers to enter and leave the area.

Rousillac residents said electricity went off shortly after 7 pm on Tuesday and was restored around 10 pm.

A resident said, "We did not know about the landslip, because that is in the bush area. When the electricity went off, we did not hear anything. We did not know what caused it."

There was a long islandwide blackout on February 16 after a palmiste tree fell on a distribution line, also in Rousillac.