Latest update December 21st, 2024 1:52 AM
Rented generating sets to the rescue at BOSAI
– Lindeners’ load-shedding anguish to ease
Three Caterpillar Diesel Generating Sets were yesterday installed by Bosai Minerals to resume production and alleviate the recent spate of load shedding which Lindeners had to put up with for the last couple of days, after equipment at the bauxite plant malfunctioned.
According to reports, the rented equipment from Machinery Corporation of Guyana Limited (MACORP) will be in place for three months.
The Caterpillar Generating Sets being brought in to the Bosai Minerals facility yesterday.
Two of the five Wartsila Diesel Engines, used by Bosai reportedly developed problems last week, which necessitated periodic load shedding in the mining town. The company was subsequently forced to downscale its operations, in order to provide electricity to the community in scheduled eight-hour shifts.
The newly acquired generating sets are expected to alleviate blackouts by 90 percent when they become fully operational tomorrow, according to a senior official at Bosai.
Each generator reportedly has a 1.6 megawatts capacity.
Work on the defective engines, meanwhile, is expected to commence by the end of the week, following the arrival of experts from the US.
“We plan using them (rented sets) more or less on the mines, and we are going to feed the community from the power plant. The power plant has three gensets running at 9 megawatts so the load at the community at peak is 6.6 megawatts and during the day it’s at roughly 5.4 megawatts, so we’re hoping to get them into full operation by Thursday.
We have to do preparation work on the cable, then we have to do a phase test and we’ll have to scrutinize properly before we power the line…so that is what we are working on right now,” an official pointed out.
Bosai is optimistic that the entire community could receive power by tomorrow and the bauxite plant returned to running at least one kiln initially and later ‘bring on’ the other kiln.
Meanwhile, it is expected that rehabilitative and maintenance work on the damaged equipment will take about three months, which would see them back in operation by the end of September.
Chief Executive Officer of Linden Electricity Company Incorporated, Horace James, in a televised programme, informed residents that priority areas to receive electricity are the Linden hospitals and the Water Treatment Plants, until the situation is rectified.
“For the community of Linden, the demand is 7.2 megawatts. As a result of problems experienced by Bosai, we have within 4.5 to 5 megawatts available to the community. We have met with Bosai to see how best we can distribute the available electricity to the residents.
“Bosai had indicated to us that the situation should improve by latest Thursday (tomorrow)…we have developed eight-hour cycles. What that means is that no area should be out of power for more than eight continuous hours. Once you are out of power for more than eight hours, we will try our best to ensure that power is restored to your area. We are in constant communication with Bosai and we know that they are working feverishly to restore power to the community,” he declared.
On Friday, Bosai was forced to shut down the two kilns at the bauxite plant to ensure that the community at large could receive electricity. This led to the eight-hour scheduled system of rationing power to communities, across the mining town.
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