- DOMLEC has advised that the available capacity is now 3 megawatts short of what is required to avoid load shedding in Dominica
- DOMLEC has entered into a rental agreement with Aggreko, a US-based generator rental firm to lease two units – generating three megawatts of electricity
- The 3-megawatt units arrived on the island on Friday, November 10 and should be online by November 30, 2023
By GIS Dominica
ROSEAU, Dominica – Prime Minister of Dominica Roosevelt Skerrit has addressed the recent re-emergence of load-shedding activities by the Dominica Electricity Services Company Ltd., (DOMLEC).
Earlier this year, DOMLEC implemented a series of load-shedding schedules due to limitations in its capacity and has since been focused on finding an effective solution to the crisis.
Prime minister Skerrit spoke about the issues that have hindered the progress of DOMLEC:
“DOMLEC has advised that the available capacity is now 3 megawatts short of what is required to avoid load shedding in Dominica. And as you may be aware earlier this month a landslide caused damage to two sections of the pipeline supplying water to the Trafalgar power station. So when we were making progress this damage to the pipeline came and have set them back a bit. Infrastructure works to restore the pipeline should be completed by the end of this week. However, maintenance work to avoid further risk to the pipelines will continue until mid-December 2023. Therefore we expect the Trafalgar power station to be functional and back online by the third week of December,” PM Skerrit stated.
Efforts are being made to provide relief from the load shedding being experienced in Dominica.
“The good news in the immediate to short term and as previously announced, DOMLEC has entered into a rental agreement with Aggreko, a US-based generator rental firm to lease two units – generating three megawatts of electricity. The 3-megawatt units arrived on island on Friday, November 10 and should be online by November 30, 2023. This will boost DOMLEC’s generation capacity and provide relief from the load shedding currently being experienced,” he explained.
The replacement of older generators with new ones continues to remain a priority for Dominica. The government of Dominica has steadfastly worked towards the procurement of additional generators which will be leased to DOMLEC.
“The government of Dominica has procured additional generator units amounting to 4.8 megawatts of power which will be leased to DOMLEC by the government on very favourable terms, and of course, I’m stressing favourable terms. The whole intention of that is to ensure that whatever the terms that will entail DOMLEC it won’t trigger an increase in the cost of electricity to our consumers. If we were to allow DOMLEC to buy them, DOMLEC would have to pass it on to the consumers. So we are buying them and we will lease it to DOMLEC at favourable terms so that we cushion that expenditure against the consumers,” the prime minister noted.
The additional generators will address the current limitations faced by DOMLEC and will maximize the generation capacity of DOMLEC until geothermal energy is achieved.
“These generators will be shipped to Dominica on December 2, and so once they get in by very early next year. We will be in a position to have them connected to the grid. And we believe that that will address the generation capacity by replacing new generators with old ones. Because, the intention of the government is to ensure that we have 10-megawatt generation capacity with new generators moving forward to ensure that the wear and tear of will not cause us to be in a situation of load shedding. So we working with DOMLEC on the immediate, on the medium term and of course the long term and the longer term will involve the introduction of geothermal which will rest the situation completely,” PM Skerrit added.
Prime minister Skerrit encouraged DOMLEC to have better communication and engagement with customers. The government of Dominica remains committed to reducing and eventually eliminating the need for load shedding in Dominica.
“One of the major preoccupations of the Dominican public is DOMLEC and load shedding and we share as a government their frustration and their anxieties. But rest assured we will do everything to alleviate and we’re doing everything from the Government standpoint to alleviate the frustrations and the anxieties by reducing and eventually eliminating the need for load shedding in Dominica,” PM Skerrit further stated.
The government of Dominica will be working with DOMLEC to return the situation to normalcy.
