Early-morning power outage affects 20% of T&TEC customers

AN early morning power outage has affected 20 per cent of the TT Electricity Commission's (T&TEC) customers today.

A release from the commission said that at 6.55 am, there was a load-shedding event on T&TEC’s system, stemming from issues with multiple generator units at independent power producers (IPPs) supplying bulk electricity to the commission.

As a result of the reduced generation, the system automatically shed customers in Trinidad to match the capacity that was available. The IPPs were immediately instructed to restart the generators and bring on additional machines where necessary.

Twenty per cent of TTEC's customers were affected, with a loss in electricity supply for 35 minutes on average, the release said.

At 7.41 am, TTEC said all customers were back on supply.

The system to automatically shed customers in the event of sudden critical loss of generation – the Underfrequency Scheme – is specifically designed to minimise localised impact. As a result, people in widely separated areas across Trinidad were affected.

The release added that the IPPs must submit a report to T&TEC in the shortest possible timeframe on the reasons behind the loss in power.

The commission also apologised for the disruption to customers and any consequent inconvenience.