End to power cuts

Posted on The National

PNG Power Limited has assured its customers that there will be no disruptions to electricity supply during the festive season, and beyond.
The assurance came from chief executive officer Douglas Mageo after the company paid the K50 million it owed Puma Energy to restore its regular supply of fuel.
PNG Power had been waiting for some time for the Government to pay the K50m, forcing the power supplier to implement load-shedding around Port Moresby daily.
Mageo said in statement since they now had “normalised” their payment terms with Puma Energy, they were getting the supply of fuel they needed.
It means that load-shedding will be discontinued.
Mageo warned, however that in cases of outages caused by “accidents or severe weather conditions”, PNG Power would try to quickly restore power supply.
He also said they would be moving away from “100 per cent exposure to diesel” next year.
“We will be moving away from 100 per cent exposure to diesel in Port Moresby and the other centres as well,” Mageo said in a statement.
Mageo said the new NiuPower gas plant had also started supplying 10 megawaltz to the Port Moresby grid from Nov 28.
This is expected to increase to 58 mw next year, with the commissioning of the 80mw transmission line.
“This means PNG Power will not use diesel to generate power in Port Moresby,” Mageo said.
“It will happen in other centres as well. The Ramu grid will be fully hydro-powered by the middle of 2020, followed by the Samarai Solar grid in Milne Bay, Divune hydropower plant in Oro and the refurbished Warangoi hydropower plant in East New Britain under PNG Power’s least cost generation path,” he said.
The hydropower capacity at Ru Creek in Kimbe and Lake Hargy in Bialla have been restored.

Go to this link for more: https://www.thenational.com.pg/end-to-power-cuts/

Cash flow constraints affecting PNG Power

Posted on The National

MAJOR cash flow constraints facing the State is affecting PNG Power Ltd’s operations, Minister for Communications and Energy Rainbo Paita says.
He told Parliament yesterday in response to a question from Gazelle MP Jelta Wong that Treasury had made payments to a fuel supplier but the cheque was dishonoured.
Wong queried why there was continuous load shedding and power outages in East New Britain.
He said load shedding was affecting businesses and work in the province.
PNG Power began load shedding and disconnection exercises due to outstanding payments from customers including the Government.
Paita said he and State Enterprises Minister Sasindran Muthuvel in consultation with Treasury were working to ensure that some payments were made to PNG Power soon.
“It’s interesting to note that we have issues and at the same time the state also owes substantial amount of money to the company.
“Given the cash flow constraints that we are having now, we have been working with Treasury to ensure that we get some payments across to PNG Power.
“Treasury released the payment but as we have been experiencing with cash flow constraints, the cheque bounced.
“So we are dealing with that issue.”

Go to this link for more: https://www.thenational.com.pg/cash-flow-constraints-affecting-png-power/

PPL boss quits after 20 months

Posted on The National

PNG Power Ltd (PPL) acting managing director Carolyn Blacklock quit her job yesterday saying that she was making way for a more productive and healthy relationship with the Government.
In a letter to her team, she said in recent months: “PNG Power had suffered badly from lack of payment for electricity from our largest customer and shareholder the Government”.
Blacklock said PNG Power under her leadership for 20 months had been unable to achieve dispatching power from the commissioned low cost, clean gas-fired NiuPower Power Station.
“As a result, our costs have remained high and we are unable to sustain the double impact of continuing higher costs due to the failure to dispatch from NiuPower and Government not paying its way for electricity.
“I have made a very hard but strategic decision to stand down in the hope it allows relations between PNG Power and our shareholder to normalise and thus allow the reform of our company to continue.
“You have proven that when good people put their heads together, treat each other with care and respect and work hard, anything is possible.
“A change of the scale we have underway requires strong leadership from the board and management but it also requires collaboration and genuine intent from all of you, our customers, development partners, financiers and suppliers.
“You are all trusted to deliver. I am very proud of each little and large effort you have made as individuals and team to make PNG Power a better company.
PPL board chairman Peter Nupiri, who announced Blacklock’s resignation, told The National that she had stepped down as the acting managing director after being appointed by the O’Neill-government in January last year.
He said the board would meet soon to appoint an acting chief executive officer in the interim while recruitment would start for a replacement.
Chief Secretary Isaac Lupari in a statement last night, said: “I am not surprised with Carolyn’s blame game over her resignation.
“She is known to be involved in corporate and local politics and has a habit of undermining established processes and people in Government at all levels.”
Lupari claimed Blacklock undermined the Dino Power Project, owned by landowners from Southern Highlands, Hela, Gulf Western and Central from day one.

Go to this link for more: https://www.thenational.com.pg/ppl-boss-quits-after-20-months/

Blacklock tells how to make power cheaper

By HELEN TARAWA - The National

PNG Power Limited acting managing director Carolyn Blacklock says cheap power, whether from gas or water (hydro), can reduce tariff if there are new power stations set up.
In response to Prime Minister James Marape’s call for reduced electricity costs, Blacklock told The National that bringing down the cost of electricity was possible if PNG Power adhered strictly to rehabilitating existing hydropower.
She also pointed out that phasing out imported diesel and heavy fuel would allow domestic sources of energy, including hydropower and gas, would contribute to reducing cost of electricity.
Blacklock said if PNG Power entered into long-term contracts tao buy power from independent power producers (IPP) it will continue to struggle financially and unable to pass on savings to its customers.
“We are also working hard to help our soon-to-be customers afford power by supporting the industrialisation of our country,” she said.
“Providing low-cost, reliable power to industry helps position PNG as investment-friendly to local and international businesses.
“It in turn helps Papua New Guinea compete as a destination for new and expanded businesses creating new opportunities for jobs and small businesses.”
She said reducing tariff helped “but we also need to grow household income through jobs and small businesses such as agriculture”.
“We are hopeful widespread electrification will lead to electric pumps that will allow farmers to lift and store water to enable high-quality crops that are drought-proof for instance,” Blacklock said.
Blacklock said she was committed when she started to restore confidence in PNG Power by establishing reliability.
She said there were constant blackouts with seven isolated centres experiencing weeks of no power.
“We had to stabilise operations and improve our financial situation,” Blacklock said.
“Secondly, I promised to increase access to electricity which is very low to less than 15 per cent.”
“Last year we connected 18,000 new households (up from 3000 in 2017) and we raised around US$1.2 million (about K4mil) under the Papua New Guinea electrification partnership.”

Go to this link for more: https://www.thenational.com.pg/blacklock-tells-how-to-make-power-cheaper/?fbclid=IwAR26h7pL6xqP5QeZbXETOVmVznF_vkxaetL0WDMc1B8QYP8uRhWxHZVNaBE