FEA explains power outages
Momentary gusts and torrential rainfall throughout Fiji caused power disruptions to most parts of the country, said Fiji Electricity Authority.
The authority, in a statement issued by its chief executive officer Hasmukh Patel, said as a result of a permanent fault at 7:11am yesterday, connectivity of the Nadarivatu to Vuda 132kV main transmission line was totally lost.
This line transports power from the hydro power stations in Monasavu and Nadarivatu to the Western Division of Viti Levu.
As a result, no hydro power is presently being supplied to the Western Division. The division is now dependent on the diesel stations.
“We expect to carry out a helicopter patrol of the faulty transmission line between Nadarivatu and Vuda tomorrow morning (today), weather permitting, in order to fully restore power supply to the healthy areas of the network in the Western Division by tomorrow (Wednesday) evening,” Mr Patel said.
“Power supply to parts of Rakiraki is from FEA’s diesel dower station in Rakiraki. There is no power supply to our customers in Tavua and Ba, partly due to deficiency in generation capacity and partly due to damaged power distribution network.
“Sigatoka presently is also without power, but our teams are working to restore power supply and it is anticipated that we will be able to energise parts of Sigatoka by later this evening (yesterday).” Parts of Lautoka were being supplied with electricity from the Vuda diesel power station. Some parts of Nadi where the transmission and distribution network was still healthy were being supplied with electricity, the statement said. Mr Patel said: “The Wailoa and Nadarivatu hydro power stations went out of operation at around 2pm today (yesterday) due to the water level at the adjacent rivers namely Wailoa and Ba Rivers reaching the power station tailrace.
“As a result, we are presently running the Kinoya Power Station to supply electricity to those areas that do not have any faults on the associated transmission and distribution networks in the Central Division.
“However, we expect to run the Wailoa Power Station once the flood waters recede in the next hour or so. This will enable FEA to restore power supply to most of the affected areas in the Central Division by later this evening, except to those areas where the power lines have been damaged.”
The statement said power supply was available to 95 per cent of customers in Labasa and that the FEA would be working on restoration of the remaining five per cent of the customers.
Power supply in Savusavu, Ovalua and Taveuni is fully restored. “Inspection and repairs to our power network has commenced as the cyclone appears to have passed by Viti Levu and the situation appears to be reasonably calm,’’ Mr Patel said.
The authority requests the members of the public that in the event someone notices a broken or low sagging power lines to immediately call their emergency number 913 and report the hazard.
“For flood prone areas, we request the residents to also call FEA on 913 on rising water levels that compromises power line clearance,’’ Mr Patel said.
“Please stay away from FEA power lines. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused to our valued customers.’’