Supply imbalance caused Upolu blackout: E.P.C.

By Adel Fruean 07 November 2020, 3:10AM

Monday's electricity black out in Upolu, which lasted nearly three hours, was caused by the loss of generation capacity from the Lalomauga hydro power station.

So explained the Electric Power Corporation (E.P.C.) which has conveyed its sincere apologies to all its valued customers, businesses and partners, for what had happened.

According to the release, problems started when the Lalomauga Hydro tripped from a technical fault causing loss of power generation from Lalomauga and Taelefaga hydro stations.

“This rapidly escalated into supply-demand imbalance and eventually led to total system collapse,” the statement said.

It added that the two online Fiaga generators responded to recover the loss of power supply but all reached full load capacity and unable to sustain system stability.

“We also wish to apologise to our valued customers for the delayed information on the blackout," the statement said. 

“Given the need to thoroughly investigate the cause of the blackout, the prolonged release of the information below is to assure all data obtained is accurate and sufficient for our general public’s information and to make sure the Corporation puts in-place appropriate measures, to rectify the problem from happening again.”

E.P.C. continues to review its protection coordination to make sure we can identify and isolate areas under fault condition as quickly as possible.

The Corporation also relayed that power however, was restored for the whole of Upolu by 7.48pm on Monday evening.

“Again we apologize for the inconvenience caused and we thank the public for its patience and continuous support while E.P.C. worked to restore power to all businesses and homes.”

By Adel Fruean 07 November 2020, 3:10AM

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