JPSCo generating unit gets overhaul

By Donna Ortega, News Editor

THE Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo.) said yesterday that the 25-megawatt unit to be installed at the Bogue plant in Montego Bay, St. James is on its way back to Jamaica after being overhauled by its US manufacturers.

Certain critical components of the unit, which was bought from Chile where it had been in operation, had been sent to manufacturers Pratt & Whitney in the USA to be changed, or in trade terms - "to zero them".

JPSCo. spokesman Sam Hinds said this had been done so that once the unit "goes into service, it's like brand new." Mr. Hinds likened the process to a motor vehicle owner overhauling its engine to ensure optimum service.

This would also make the one year warranty effective, he said. JPSCo. said that installation time for the unit, which cost some US$14 million, is "on or a little ahead of schedule". The unit was expected to come into service at Bogue by August thereby increasing generating capacity at the plant to 108 megawatts.

This was in keeping with a pledge by Mirant Corporation, the Atlanta-based company which bought 80 per cent of JPSCo in February, to expand electricity generating capacity in Jamaica.

Mr. Charles Matthews, JPSCo. president, was quoted in the press as saying that the company planned to install another 120 megawatts of capacity at Bogue between 2002 and 2004. The company will spend US$100 million (J$4.5 billion) by 2004 on its generation expansion programme.

However, recently millions of dollars have been lost in production as a result of islandwide load-shedding due to JPSCO.'s fall-off in generating capacity.

Mr. Hinds said that yesterday the company had excess margin "but the overall situation is still extremely delicate." If any other generators had to be pulled from the grid for maintenance, the company would be forced to resume load shedding. The number two unit at Old Harbour is still out of operation until August.

"So conservation will have to be a big part of demand management for the next couple of weeks," he said. Consumers will have to continue to practise conservation measures.

In a recent report to members of the board, the JPSCo. said it had completed work on the Old Harbour number 3 unit which has been off line since early March due to a fire, and that should significantly reduce the extent of service interruptions.

In addition, said the report, work continued on the number 2 unit at Old Harbour, which has been undergoing routine maintenance and repairs to a damaged turbine since the end of January, and that should be back in operation by August.

Between April and May, the JPSCo. lost an average of one per cent of the energy it produced because of routine load shedding for three hours each day. That resulted in about four unserved gigawatt hours during a 45-day period.

Back to Business