(Trinidad Guardian) An employee at the Cove power plant in Tobago is being investigated for an “operator error” in relation to the nationwide blackout across T&T on Good Friday. The Cove power plant falls under the T&T Electricity Commission (T&TEC). As for Trinidad, it was a 2009 deficiency in the design of an automatic bypass system at the National Gas Company (NGC) that resulted in the malfunction that led to the blackout, Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine said in the Senate yesterday.
Dealing specifically with Tobago, Ramnarine said after preliminary investigations it was determined that an “operator error” was responsible for the power outage. “The sister isle is supplied power via a submarine cable of 15 MW of power and the T&TEC plant at Cove Industrial Estate, which is capable of 64 MW of power,” Ramnarine told the House. “The loss of power in Trinidad caused the loss of four MW of power, which was at the time being supplied by the submarine cable.
“In attempt to pick up the loss of this supply, the three generating units at Cove Power Station were shut down due to operator error. “This resulted in a total loss of power in Tobago at 1.29 am. At this time, we were in a state of nationwide blackout. The operator error at Cove Power Station is under investigation.”
