Despite the addition of 1.5 megawatts of generating capacity to Linden’s electricity grid, Mayor of Linden Dominique Blair says residents and businesses are still experiencing blackouts and interruptions, while sawmills remain off the grid.
The Mayor’s comments come as a new load-shedding schedule continues to affect sections of the town, raising questions about whether the additional generating capacity has provided the level of relief previously anticipated.
“While we acknowledge the additional 1.5 MW power capacity that has been added to the grid, the reality for our residents and businesses is that they are still experiencing blackouts and interruptions,” the Mayor said.
“We continue to see blackout schedules circulating, and our sawmills remain off the grid.”
The Mayor said that from the municipality’s perspective, the town was still far from achieving the stable and reliable electricity supply needed to support Linden’s continued development.
“From the town’s perspective, that means we are still not where we need to be,” he said.
“Reliable electricity is essential if we are going to expand residentially and industrially, attract investment, and create opportunities for our community.”
The comments follow a recent meeting involving the Linden municipality, electricity providers, government representatives and other stakeholders, during which authorities attributed the outages to electricity demand exceeding available generation capacity.
At that meeting, officials said an additional 1.5 MW of generation was expected to provide relief as authorities worked towards longer-term solutions, including further generating capacity, a solar project and the restoration of a transmission connection between Linden and Georgetown.
However, the Mayor said the continued outages indicate that residents and businesses have yet to experience a meaningful improvement.
“So, as of today, I cannot say that we have seen a meaningful improvement,” he said.
He questioned whether anyone would want to move to Linden with the current state of the power fluctuations calling for the authorities to have a meaningful look at the mining town’s electricity woes.
The continued load-shedding is of particular concern to businesses, including sawmill operators, whose operations have been affected by restrictions aimed at reducing demand on the electricity system during peak periods.
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