East New Britain faces prolonged blackouts as Warangoi water level drops

East New Britain province is facing prolonged power outages as the ongoing El Nino continues to dry up the Warangoi river, its main source of electricity.

A combination of ailing infrastructure, fuel shortages and the onslaught of drought has left the province with power outages lasting up to 12 hours every day.

The East New Britain Provincial Disaster Committee Chairman, Levi Mano, said it is a critical situation.

He said the disaster team is working closely with PNG Power Limited to ensure these disruptions are kept to a minimum during the El Nino period.

“We are beginning to see that everything, almost 99 percent, is dried up. Water level has dropped and electricity generation is being affected”, Mr. Mano said.

The Warangoi hydropower station used to produce about 10 megawatts of electricity.

Currently, it can only produce half of that as the dry spell forced the water level to drop significantly, prompting load shedding and prolonged blackouts all over the province.

Mr. Mano said that has affected business operations in the province.

“We are engaging with PPL and in the coming days we will be dispatching machines to make sure they manage the water that is now flowing in the tributaries that contribute to the reservoir,” Mano said.

At the Warangoi river, what was initially the riverbed has been exposed.

Initially, the river is diverted into a catchment area then funneled through a seven-kilometer tunnel to drive the turbines at the main power station.

But with no rain, there is simply not enough water.

But that is not all.

Inside the control room, the machineries have seen better days.

Numerous major overhauls over the years have achieved unsatisfactory results.

In recent years, PNG Power has turned to its diesel sub-power stations at Ulagunan and Kerevat. But they are failing too.

Extended run times have triggered a fuel crisis.

Kokopo MP Ereman ToBaining Junior stressed that businesses in Kokopo are poised to expend. But ailing hydro power infrastructures and the high cost of fuel to keep the generators running are unsuitable for economic growth.

" From sixty thousand liters of fuel that we can pay for, thirty thousand can be used up in three to four days, so it's quite expensive”, ToBaining said.

The longer blackouts have prompted business houses to use private generators to run their operations.

But owning private generators also comes at a cost.

They require fuel and longer running hours mean wear and tear on the generators.

The East New Britain provincial government on numerous occasions had made its intentions known that it wants to invest in solar, wind and geothermal energy, in addition to hydro, to help during difficult periods like El Nino.

But whether any tangible developments will actually happen, remains to be seen.