US team summoned to fix JPSCo woes

A TEAM of United States experts have been brought to Jamaica to help restore the reliability of electricity supply to the island.

Mirant Corporation, the majority shareholder in the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo), said yesterday that it has assigned a high-level team of its most experienced personnel from its Atlanta, Georgia, head office and Mirant Mid-Atlantic Group to work with the Jamai-can operation.

The country had been experiencing scheduled and unscheduled power cuts, the result of a shortfall in generating capacity of the JPSCo. This is causing concern to Mirant, which became partners in the supply of electricity to Jamaica in February.

"We are deeply concerned about the inconvenience to customers at this time," John Rachford, Mirant's operations director, who leads the five-man team here, said in a JPSCo press release issued yesterday, "and we have mobilised a team of our most experienced technical people to support JPSCo until this situation is resolved."

Mr. Rachford, who was recently appointed director of operations for South America and the Caribbean said "restoring the units that are out of service in Jamaica is Mirant's highest priority in the region today."

According to the release, the team will provide critical operational on-the-ground operational support for JPSCo's Generation Division, as well as provide a direct bridge into Mirant's global network of technical expertise and resources.

"Beyond the immediate restoration of full generating capacity, the team, which will be rotated and augmented from time to time, will assist JPSCo in developing operation and maintenance programmes to improve the reliability and efficiency of its plants," it stated.

This, the company said, will include the installation of a new computerised maintenance planning system that is standard throughout Mirant operations.

JPSCo has been instituting scheduled power cuts islandwide, because of shortfall in generating capacity. One unit at its Old Harbour Plant was taken off-line following problems that developed in its boiler system. The situation was compounded further by the withdrawal from service of a second unit for maintenance by independent supplier, Jamaica Private Power Company.

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