(Trinidad Express) Citizens of Trinidad and Tobago awoke to darkness early yesterday morning after a major natural gas disruption shut down turbines at all three of the country’s power generation plants late Thursday night.
Though many were in bed, the loss of power was a shock for those still up and enjoying the start of the long holiday weekend. Many subsequently took to the social media to vent and express the view that the nationwide outage made them feel like the bobolees that are traditionally beaten on Good Friday.
The blackout hit around 12.45 a.m. yesterday and lasted well into the morning for some parts of the country, with State electricity distributor the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) only able to begin restoring power from about 4.45 a.m. in Trinidad.
Electricity in Tobago was restored as early as 1 a.m.
In a statement yesterday, T&TEC said the blackout was caused by a “problem with the gas supply” from Phoenix Park Gas Processors Ltd in Trinidad, and “a subsequent problem” at the Cove power plant in Tobago. “T&TEC was able to restart the generators at the Cove soon after, restoring power to the island from as early as 1 a.m.,” the commission said.
The Express asked T&TEC spokeswoman Annabelle Brasnell if there was any evidence of sabotage. Brasnell said as far as she was aware, at least on the T&TEC side, there was none.
The Office of the Prime Minister issued a release around 7.45 a.m., stating that in an immediate response to the nationwide power outage, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, in her capacity as chair of the National Security Council, had ordered an increase in the national security alert.
The Prime Minister had been on the job from 5.08 a.m., with a visit to the PowerGen plant in Syne Village.
This precautionary measure was enacted to ensure law and order was maintained and critical infrastructure remained secure during the blackout, the Office of the Prime Minister said.
The Defence Force and Police Service were mobilised and deployed, supported by air patrols from the National Security Operations Centre, into several key areas throughout the country, the release said.
There was one reported incident of attempted looting at a supermarket in Barataria, but this was prevented due to the intervention of law enforcement officials on the scene, it added.
This, however, was not confirmed yesterday by the police.
The Office of the Prime Minister said coordination of the security effort continued via the National Strategic Command and the National Emergency Operations Centre, and all emergency systems and agencies were prepared to respond to any incident if necessary.
In Trinidad, customers in Penal were the first to regain power around 4.45 am, as the PowerGen substation in Syne Village resumed production.
“The process to restart a generator after a complete shutdown—called a black start—can take hours, as the machines have to gradually be brought back up to full capacity,” T&TEC said.
By about 7 a.m., customers in Gulf View, Reform, Lady Hailes and surrounding areas of San Fernando were able to power up.
Lights were back in Couva and other parts of Central by about 7.30 a.m., as the Point Lisas power plant came back online.
Power in Port of Spain was restored around 10 a.m. The voltage output from the Point Lisas plant was increased to supply the capital city and environs as soon as possible, T&TEC said.
In a statement yesterday morning, the National Gas Company, which distributes natural gas to downstream users like power generation companies, said that around 12.25 a.m., a safety valve at the Phoenix Park Gas Processing Ltd in Point Lisas tripped because of a malfunction of the emergency shutdown system.
“It (became) necessary, therefore, to reduce the gas supply to the Point Lisas Industrial Estate. At 12.45 a.m., T&TEC shutdown occurred. Operations at the natural gas distribution normalised shortly after 1 a.m. and T&TEC was given the all-clear to restart operations at 1.15 a.m.,” NGC said.
There are three major electricity producers in Trinidad and Tobago: PowerGen, with plants in Point Lisas, Syne Village and Port of Spain; Trinidad Generation Unlimited out of La Brea; and Trinity in Point Lisas.
PowerGen is the largest electricity supplier to the national electricity grid, supplying about 60 to 70 per cent of T&TEC’s supply.
The Express spoke to a PowerGen official, who said that around 12.30 a.m. the company’s gas supply started to go low, but came back up within the hour. The slowdown in supply caused the turbines to shut down because of a lack of power.
How it works, he said, is that there is a continuous supply of gas via pipeline from the NGC. “If we lose gas, we lose the ability to generate power,” he said.
He added that there was no fallout or damage to machinery, and that as the gas supply began to normalise the company had begun its regular operations.
PowerGen uses approximately 320 mmbtu/day of natural gas.
