Residents of Prince Eduardo Island are still urged to conserve energy, since the instability of electricity on the island extends until a third day and night.
While the city of Summerside warns the residents who prepare for the blackouts on Wednesday night, the CEO of Maritime Electric Jason Roberts said it does not believe it is necessary.
“Conservation, conservation, conservation. That is really key to us right now,” Roberts said.
Residential and commercial customers are asked throughout the province:
- Turn off unnecessary lights.
- Unplug electronics, appliances or power bars that are not being used.
- Do not use large appliances such as dishwasher, ovens or dryers.
- Change non -essential tasks such as laundry at hours that are not peak.
The problem began early Monday, when an important interruption in western Pei left more than 19,000 customers without electricity due to damage to the Maritime Electric Sherbrooke substation, north of Summerside. Halfing restored energy, but the island’s energy supply has remained unstable, particularly for the second largest city in Pei.
Summerside generates much of its own electricity, but also pays New Brunswick’s energy for any additional energy it needs, and that is transmitted to PEI through an underwater cable system. However, maritime electrical infrastructure is required to move the electricity bought to the Summerside network.
The city of Summerside, which operates its own electrical utility, continues to warn residents that power cuts may be necessary if demand exceeds the capacity of the network. Wayne Thibodeau spent the day in the 17,000 community to learn how the uncertainty of power is affecting people and companies.
Roberts told CBC News on Tuesday that the public services company must give the first priority to supply its direct customers, and Summerside is classified as what is called an “interruptible client.”
“With that it comes not only a lower price, but also presents the risk that if there are limitations in the system, then it will be interrupted,” he explained more on Wednesday.
“That is why today, with that limitation, they can’t get the energy they need.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Summerside again warned the residents to prepare for rotation power cuts if the demand exceeds the network capacity. Residents were warned that they could lose power up to two hours between 4 and 10 pm.
To avoid blackouts, the city said it would close all non -essential municipal facilities at 5 pm
Children do not go to their hockey practices, people don’t use the gym. We have to make really difficult decisions for our residents and also for our businesses.– Mayor of Summerside Dan Kutcher
The mayor of Summerside, Dan Kutcher, continued to express the frustration about the management of the situation by Maritime Electric of the situation this week.
He told CBC’s Island morning That the city’s solar farm has helped prevent blackouts during the day and its diesel generators have been working at full capacity.
“We close municipal facilities [Tuesday]That means that children do not go to their hockey practices, people don’t use the gym, “he said Wednesday morning.” We have to make really difficult decisions for our residents and also for our business. “
On Tuesday, Kutcher had told CBC News that the public services company that serves most of Prince Eduardo’s island, with the exception of Summerside, initially planned to reduce the energy supply of the city of 28 megawatts to only two two On Tuesday night, while directeding 14 megawatts to Cavendish Farms, an important producer of frozen food products based in New Annan.
That left the city reinforcing the interruptions while the repair works continued in a damaged transformer in the Maritime Electric Sherbrooke substation.
On Tuesday night a plan for two -hour blackouts was canceled on Tuesday night after Maritime Electric returned to city officials to say that the public services company would guarantee sufficient energy for Summerside.
Kutcher said Summerside has argued for years that the city should not be classified as an interruptible client.
The city applied to the Regulatory and Appeal Commission of the island to obtain permission to install its own transmission line, hoping to move the cheapest energy. However, Irac denied the application and this decision was subsequently confirmed by the Appeals Division of the PEI Supreme Court in 2015.
We are here to help public services with any request they may have. Everything is hands on the deck to obtain a reliable power for the islanders.– Gilles Arsenault, Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Action
“If we had access to those submarine cables directly, and we did not need to be an interruptible customer with maritime electricity, we could better support maritime electricity by having an additional redundancy in the transmission system, and we would not do so in the situation we are here today “said the mayor.
He added that the underwater cable system should be a public asset that serves the public good, not under the control of a private company.
“We have to speak and respond to the interests of our residents, and that means keeping our residents safe and warm. [has a] main duty to provide value to your shareholders. “
Summerside choice, says Ceo
But Roberts said that Summerside’s interruptible type of service is the choice of the city, and I could choose to pay more to subscribe to a firm and committed service of Maritime Electric.
“If you choose that, we will build and design the system to have those contingencies in its place, not only for maritime electrical customers, but also for the city of Summerside Electric Utility,” said the CEO of Maritime Electric.
This update may require the addition of equipment such as Transformers, which could take up to three years to install, said Roberts.
Mayor Dan Kutcher says that people in Summerside feel the pain of Maritime Electric failures after a variety of power cuts. He suggests that the utility is retaining the residents of the Western city of Pei as a hostage with their control over the province’s electric transmission system.
“It’s important, you know, Summerside Electric observes the situation in which they meet, they understand what their risks are and make decisions about what they need for their customers,” Roberts said.
‘All hands on the deck’
Meanwhile, the Minister of the Province responsible for Energy, Gilles Arsenault, sent CBC News a statement about the problems on Wednesday.
“I have been in frequent contact this week with the city of Summerside, Maritime Electric and my colleague minister [Bloyce] Thompson together with the Public Security Office, “he said.
“We are here to help public services with any request they may have. Everything is practical in Deck to obtain reliable power for islanders.
“We understand that interruptions are due to mechanical problems; however, Maritime Electric can talk more about that,” Arsenault’s statement continued.
“As the working people of our electrical services resolve this interruption, the islanders can help following the advice of Summerside Electric and Maritime Electric in electricity conservation measures in times of maximum demand.”
‘A common challenge’
The pressure on PEI’s electricity grid is not unique, but “a common challenge” for North America public services as more jurisdictions move away from fossil fuels towards electrification of things such as vehicles and heat, Roberts said.
“We are working very diligently to update the system along the way,” he said.
PEI currently has four submarine cables that have more than 500 megawatts of generators transfer capacity outside the island, said the CEO. The two original cables, which must be replaced in the coming years, were installed in 1977 and two new cables were installed in 2017, Roberts said.
Although the cables have more than 500 megawatts of transfer capacity, the switching station has a limitation of 300 megawatts, so the switching station must be updated to obtain more energy in the Northumberland Strait, he said.
At the same time, he said that there is a “security challenge” that will require the installation of more capacity.
