-after demand exceeds generation
The Linden Electricity Company Inc (LECI) has announced a load-shedding schedule for Mackenzie after electricity demand in Region Ten exceeded available generation.
Under the schedule, residents and businesses in several areas will experience outages of between four and five hours at various times from tomorrow to Saturday.
Constabulary Compound, the courts, market, Celebrity Avenue and Coop Crescent are scheduled to be without electricity tomorrow from 11 am to 4 pm. Hope Town, Block 42, Cinderella City, Guy America and Moblissa are listed for load shedding from 5 pm to 10 pm.
On Tuesday, the Kara Kara Housing Scheme, Old Kara Kara, Retrieve, Rainbow City and the Industrial Area are scheduled to be without power from noon to 4 pm. Richmond Hill, Watooka, Fair’s Rust, Noitgedacht, China Railway, Mines, Guy America and Moblissa are listed for outages from 5 pm to 10 pm.
On Thursday, Speightland, the Passport Office, David Rose Avenue, Mackenzie High School and the Mackenzie and Toucan Connections area are scheduled for load shedding from noon to 4 pm.
Amelia’s Ward Police Station Street, Central Amelia’s Ward, phases one to three, the new housing scheme, Bamia Drive, Dennis Avenue, Princess Lane, New York Avenue, Bounceland and surrounding areas are listed for outages from 5 pm to 10 pm. Guy America and Moblissa are also included.
On Saturday, Brezina Scheme and surrounding areas are scheduled to be without power from 11 am to 4 pm. South Amelia’s Ward, including Obama Drive, the water plant, Crease Area, the gas station, supermarkets and other businesses, is listed for load shedding from 5 pm to 10 pm. Guy America and Moblissa are again included.
LECI said sawmills would be permitted to operate only between 10 pm and 11 am and that large businesses would be taken off the system during the evenings. The Linden Hospital Complex will not be included in the load shedding.
The schedule follows disclosures at a government press conference last Friday that demand on the Linden system had recently peaked at 15.1 megawatts (MW), while the Bosai generation facility was producing approximately 14.1 MW.
Government officials on Friday attributed much of the increased demand to the expansion of sawmilling. They said 32 sawmills were operating in Region Ten and that their high-powered machinery was placing additional pressure on the electricity system.
Officials said the government and LECI had begun discussions with sawmill operators about shifting their operations away from peak periods. Authorities were also examining properties where sawmills and residences shared a single electricity connection.
The government was reported to be discussing an additional three MW of generation for Linden. Solar projects expected to add approximately seven MW were also targeted for completion by the end of the year.
Not expanded
In a statement, APNU MP Sharma Solomon, a former Region Ten chairman, said Linden’s electricity demand had grown without a corresponding increase in generating capacity.
He placed demand at approximately six MW when the power purchase agreement was established around 2005, approximately 12 MW in 2024 and between 14 MW and 14.5 MW currently.
“The system has therefore moved from approximately six MW to more than 100% of that level,” Solomon said. “While Linden’s needs have expanded, the electricity infrastructure has not been expanded at the same pace.”
He argued that the problem was not residents, small businesses or families using air-conditioning during the current high temperatures, but the absence of adequate planning as industrial and commercial demand increased.
Solomon said investment and industrial expansion should be welcomed but maintained that the necessary infrastructure had to be provided.
“You cannot have unofficial industrial development without industrial capacity,” he said. “You cannot build industrial capacity on the back of a community electricity concession, forged out of a community struggle, without asking who pays for the additional demand.”
Solomon said Linden’s subsidised electricity arrangement was intended as a community benefit and should not become a subsidy for expanding industrial operations.
“If a small number of large industrial consumers can expand their operations, increase their electricity consumption and benefit from the community’s 21st of August agreement, while the wider community experiences outages and capacity constraints, then we have to ask whether the original purpose of that agreement…is being undermined,” he said.
“A community benefit cannot become an industrial subsidy.”
He called for the electricity requirements of large businesses to be reassessed and for enterprises whose operations had expanded beyond their original certification to be recertified or reclassified.
Solomon said that some industrial consumers were paying approximately $12 per kilowatt-hour under the Linden arrangement, compared with commercial rates of between $63 and $65 per kilowatt-hour elsewhere. His statement did not identify the businesses or provide supporting billing information.
“The question is no longer simply, ‘Can Linden keep cheap electricity?’ The question is, ‘Who is benefiting from Linden’s subsidised electricity, and who is now carrying the cost of the additional demand?’” he said.
Solomon called for the urgent deployment of temporary generation, a review of the existing power purchase agreement and a long-term upgrade of Linden’s electricity system based on projected residential, commercial and industrial demand.
He said the government should also facilitate discussions with Bosai on additional generating capacity where appropriate.
“How much capacity will Linden have in 2027? How much will we have in 2030? Where will that capacity come from? What will it cost? Who will pay? And what reserve capacity will be available when demand rises again?” he asked.
“Linden should not be asked to carry the cost of a national energy failure.”
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