Minister of Energy, Oluniyi Robin-Coker yesterday said that Bumbuna hydro-electric dam is under scheduled annual maintenance.
He made this statement at the weekly Government press briefing organised by the Ministry of Information and communications.
The minister stated that this maintenance normally happens once a year and it takes place in February or March but because they were doing maintenance on the reservoir, the turbines and the power plant, the normal maintenance could not be carried out at that time.
The maintenance that they are doing now is going to be sustainable, as government believes that Bumbuna is one of the country’s most valuable assets, as it serves an important function in the country.
Oluniyi added that Bumbuna had experienced the crisis of one of the two turbines and will not be fixed until the end of the year. They have had to shift the annual maintenance to this time and it is taking place now, as they are using the opportunity to do more extra-ordinary maintenance on unit two turbines, as this is what has been providing the country with electricity in the month of April, May, until the shutdown.
The Minister explained that for now they have only one major transmission line that is running from Bumbuna to Freetown, as it will be of limited value in 2 or 3 years to come. They have also contacted Addax Bio energy to distribute energy plants in Makeni and Lunsar area, as they will be able to generate power from their waste.
He also said that they will be generating 15 to 16 megawatts, as this will be effective in early 2014.
He said, for them to be able to send power, they have to connect with the existing Bumbuna power, as the existing Bumbuna lines should be upgraded in order to carry more power and places like Lunsar and Port Loko will benefit.
In the Western Area, the minister continued they have signed an agreement with a company that will be sending 125 megawatts to be delivered in phases over two to three years and up to eight transformers have to be replaced in the Western Area, as some of them are over 35 years old.
In the BKPS region, he said that they are having similar problems, as in the Western Area, the hydro is running the turbines but not currently operating as three out of the four turbines is experiencing difficulty. He said that the rains are doing well in that region, as this is a sign of the much-talked about climate change, as in Bumbuna, the amount of water collected this year is higher than last year.
This is an example of nature and how we managed our resources.
The Minister ended by saying that they are working to secure independent power producers to the distribution network that will send power to the distribution lines in the country.
July 26, 2013
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