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Barbados Plunged Into Darkness, AGAIN

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Early on Sunday morning about 1AM, the BU household was plunged into darkness. A quick look through a window confirmed that as far as the eye could there was darkness. However, because it was so late we scurried off to bed earlier than planned, disappointed that our viewing of the Olympic broadcast was abruptly curtailed.

We freely admit that we have always had good things to say about the reliability in the service provided by the Barbados Light & Power Company Limited (BL&P) over the years. It is therefore of concern that in recent times we can easily recall three or four occasions when the island has suffered island wide outages. The most famous of the outages was the time a monkey was said to have caused the shutdown.

In all the explanations we have heard, Chief Marketing Manager of the BL&P Stephen Worme has been consistent in his message. Whether caused by monkey or bad weather it triggered a shutdown of the BL&P grid. It is good to know as a subscriber that the BL&P has a system in position that will trigger a shutdown to avoid severe damage to its network. Is the BU household being naïve by asking why should a monkey or the mild bad-weather experienced early Sunday morning have shutdown the BL&P electricity transmission?

We are asking questions which the average-man on the streets of Barbados is beginning to ask. Maybe we are being too hard on the BL&P. Maybe what has transpired in recent months is acceptable given the vagaries of operating a fossil powered company. To our layman way of thinking we appear to be experiencing a level of outages which is unacceptable in the year 2008.

More questions than answers. There was a time Chief Marketing Manager Stephen Worme would have responded directly to the concerns of the BU family. Unfortunately that door has been slammed shut. Hopefully the cloak of anonymity that BU affords can encourage some level of response.

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146 responses to “Barbados Plunged Into Darkness, AGAIN”

  1. The scout Avatar
    The scout

    J
    Please tell me your FULL secreton power consumption, that’s what friends are for

  2. John Avatar
    John

    The big ones are:

    Do without airconditioning,

    Don’t cook with electricity

    Make sure your fridge and freezer are cycling properly and don’t stay on all the time.

    Solar water heating will also reduce your bill.

    Having said that, I don’t have solar and my freezer needs some maintenance. The seal is not good.

    I am going to try a couple of months bathing in cold water and see what effect that has on the bill and do something about the freezer.

    I rarely get below $200.00 so I have some work to do. More recently the bill has been closer to $250.00

    I think I also have a wiring problem which I haven’t got tracked down yet, but if it is there, I will find it.

  3. Tony Hall Avatar
    Tony Hall

    John,
    I am glad you mentioned that. I never thought of it.

  4. J Avatar
    J

    First start with SOS. Switch Off Something. If you have children teach them to do the same. Spend a lot of time teaching this. They will thank you for it in the future. I am the dragon who walks around our home switching off things. No need for the average family to have 3 or 4 brightly lighted rooms when only one is being used. You may want to put motion sensors on your outdoor lights so that they only come on when motion is detected. It is not that expensive to have this done. Yes solar water heater is a must. I’ve used solar only for more than 20 years. Gas stove. Use the oven less and the stove top more, save the oven for Christmas and other special holidays because electric ovens are big and expensive to heat especially if cooking for a small family. No air conditioning. Open the windows, put inscet screens on the doors and open the doors also. Turn off computers, tv’s, radios, and and other instant-on things if you plan to be away from them for more than 15 minutes. Iron everything at once if possible (but even I the cheap one has to admit that this one is hard to do). If using a washing machine only do full loads. Once a week a load of towels, a load of sheets. A load of light coloured work and school clothes and a load of dark coloured work and schoool clothes, one or 2 other loads and you should be done for an average sized family. Only wash once a week unless there is a baby in the house. Babies are funny people and for a year or so you may need to wash everyday. No need to sleep with the fan on. Turn it of just before falling asleep and sleep in the birthday suit. I take it that you are sleeping alone or with the love of your life. Very nice and cool and the love of your life will love it.

    For an average sized family, 2 to 4 people the electricity bill will be about $90 to $130 dollars per month.

    Invest the savings in BL&P shares.

    Best wishes.

  5. J Avatar
    J

    And use compact flourescent bulbs instead of the the old fashioned incandescent ones. The compacts are expensive so I have been replacing mine one by one as the old fashioned bulbs burn out.

    You can use some or all of these stategies without making your family miserable and without going back to the stone age.

  6. J Avatar
    J

    If you have an average sized household of 2 to 4 people do you really need a freezer? Won’t the fridge freezer do?

  7. John Avatar
    John

    Depends on the size of the fridge.

    Would like to get rid of the freezer altogether but that requires negotiation and significant energy expenditure!!!

    Also, remember BL&P doesn’t read your meter every month but projects what you owe from your history of consumption.

    Some months you can actually overpay, … or underpay.

    It is evened out when the meter is actually read and credit if any is assigned.

    If you make changes, see what happens on the bills after BL&P actually reads your meter.

    Don’t get despondent if you don’t see a change in your bill immediately. Measure the results of your efforts quarterly, not monthly.

  8. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    @J: I tip my hat to you…

    @John: Please note that there is nothing stopping you (or any consumer) from reading your own meter… (I read mine at least once a week.)

  9. John Avatar
    John

    Agree, …. reading the meter gives you quick feedback on the effect of your actions without waiting on your bill.

    Same goes for water.

    I used to be on flat rate and paid about $44.00 per month. That was years ago.

    Since BWA metered me and put up the rates, my bill has actually gone down to $20.00 to $30.00 per month.

  10. Adrian Loveridge Avatar
    Adrian Loveridge

    I have just been in contact with FEIT Electric, a company based in California that manufactures the new DECADE light bulb.
    It is guaranteed for TEN years and uses up to 75% less energy. It is also moisture resistant.

    Depending on who you buy them from, they cost around US$19.95 for 12. One company gives you a dozen free for every three dozen purchased.

    I have some samples being FEDEXed and if they are as good as they say they are, I intend to apply to the Ministry of Finance to request that the Tourism industry can bring them in duty-free.

    Meanwhile, I suggest that at least one local (Barbados) distribution company contact the company (www.feit.com) to make them available to the general domestic market.

    They manufacture them in 50 cycles/Hertz, the same as our power supply.

  11. RE Engineer Avatar
    RE Engineer

    @John and J

    There needs to be more person in Bim like you all. Take energy conservation into your own hands and don’t wait for government or anyone else. Great suggestions.

  12. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    @Adrian Loveridge: “I have just been in contact with FEIT Electric, a company based in California that manufactures the new DECADE light bulb. It is guaranteed for TEN years and uses up to 75% less energy. It is also moisture resistant.”

    Please forgive me for this, but this product appear to be nothing except a regular incandescent light bulb, with the “advancement” that the “heavy duty filament” is physically supported at many points, rather than the traditional product (as developed by Edison) which is supported only at its ends.

    Not meaning to be negative here — simply inquisitive… But I wonder how such a product can claim a 75% energy saving.

    Of course, as we all know, there are a series of curves involved here; the cost of acquisition, the cost of operation, the cost of production, and the cost of disposal.

    Please let me be clear — I’m not trying to be negative. However, I am (personally) not clear on the question as to this product being a net positive, or a net negative…

    Perhaps those of us here who are far more educated than myself might speak to the above…

  13. Adrian Loveridge Avatar
    Adrian Loveridge

    Chris,

    Feit manufacturers a bewildering range of light bulbs and there are several types of DECADE.

    If I can can 60 watts of light for 13w actual power use and it lasts TEN years (with a guarantee), then I WILL replace our 400 plus light bulbs.

    Proof is in the eating, so I will report back after using the bulbs for a while.

    Meanwhile GOOGLE ‘Decade Light Bulbs’ and you will get some idea or visit their own site (www.feit.com)

  14. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    @Loveridge… With the greatest and kindest of respect… Do you imagine that I might speak without first doing the appropriate due diligence?

    I am *quite* aware of the various products Feit produce. I am also aware of the many “Under Construction” pages which result when clicking on links of their web site. Including, specifically, “LED” and “Florescent”.

    Please let me also observe that the price points you have quoted suggests strongly incandescent solution spaces. It is actually because of the above that I’ve concluded that their solution is based on a refinement of Edison…

    Again, not wishing to be negative here. But based on what you’re presenting, Feit are offering nothing beyond a refinement of Edison.

    And, therefore, I question if a 75% savings is reasonable to expect. (Although, once again, and as always, I’m more than happy to be proven wrong.)

    Please do keep us all informed.

  15. J Avatar
    J

    $100. per month is about my average over 3 years. I keep careful written notes of kilowatt hours used and money paid.

    I hate to waste energy as it is mostly a non-renewable resource.

    You may say also that I am somewhat a disciple of the lae Colin Hodson.

  16. J Avatar
    J

    Late Colin Hudson.

  17. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    @Loveridge et al… My apologies, I’ve been a contrarian prick here…

    Without trying to excuse myself, I am *just* *so* tired of naive nirvana…

    Adrian: can you please provide us with the specifications of the light bulbs you have discovered, and are about to import and test?

    I’m interested in *specifics*… Engineering sheets. SKU numbers. Light temperature (read: colour). Costing per K. Energy consumption. Duty cycles. Etc, etc, etc…

    Any information you and/or your supplier is able and willing to provide would be truly appreciated.

    I *know* there are viable options available to us…

  18. Pat Avatar
    Pat

    @J

    You go girl. You forgot drying clothes on lines outdoors. When the wind finish blowing through them, no need for ironing.

    I have been using fluorescents for 25 years. The house came with them in the bathrooms and kitchen. I added to the downstairs and all the other rooms. I also have the sensor lights outdoors. We have airconditioning and we keep it at 80 F. when we use it. So far, only two days this summer. I invested in a high quality toaster oven (floor model cost $2.50) and have not used my big oven in over a year. All my veggies are done in the microwave. I even bought a microwave rice cooker ($6). Works great.

    I removed my curtains f rom the back of the house to let more light in in the evenings and in winter, so I turn the lights on less in the kitchen, etc. I do laundry every two weeks, full loads and on short cycles

    I have the computer, router, tv, etc. on power bars, so that when i turn them off at the bar, they dont draw power at all. I have a freezer, but i try to keep it full or as near full as possible to keep down the frequency and cost of cycling. My bill was $68 last month. They have smart meters here and if you use power in off peak hours it is cheaper, so as I am home, it is very easy to do.

  19. Chuckles Avatar
    Chuckles

    Hi Pat

    Are you living in Barbados? Where do you store the soiled clothes and linens? I have been looking for a clothes basket that size for a long time.

  20. John Avatar
    John

    Pat

    Your numbers seem surreal, …. almost …… fantastic!!

    What currency are you quoting?

    You must let us know about your clothes basket and where you bought it as it seems to be a good way of saving on energy.

  21. ARCHIE BREK DEM UP Avatar
    ARCHIE BREK DEM UP

    you need no fridge
    why a fridge -to drink cold water-get a monkey(jar made from clay) and to eat cold food

    dese cold foods and drinks contribute to colon cancer-thats all

    no microwave either
    an oil lamp can be used most of the time
    yuh dont really need electric lights-nor washing machine either——too many damn aplliances–people too damn lazy minded and want too much out of life

    LIVE SIMPLE——-

  22. Chuckles Avatar
    Chuckles

    Archie

    You don’t need shoes either. Why don’t you grease your foot and walk to work barefoot ?lol
    What about that Dockers pants you are wearing? Man, that isn’t necessary. You could wrap a loin cloth around your waist and “person”.

  23. Citizen Avatar
    Citizen

    @RE Engineer

    Thanks for the explanation but as David states “The fact is in recent times we have had more of our share of outages and we have been forced to ask the hard questions.” I am really asking Why all these blackouts NOW! We had lightning all the years before, every year I was growing up. Since the beginning of BL&P in Barbados. You get the idea. Why would lightning cause this NOW? Why would anything else cause this NOW?

    @John

    The aftermath of Ivan in Grenada advice. lol, I never thought of that. Thanks.

    @Adrian Loveridge, Chris Halsall et al

    My understanding is that compact-fluorescent bulbs (CFBs) can last 10 times as long, and use 1/4 the energy of an incandescent bulb. And that LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs use much less electricity than cfbs, fluorescent or incandescent, and last longer. I have never found these LED bulbs in Barbados. We need these.

    As for renewable energy watch/read Al Gore’s Challenge to America
    http://www.wecansolveit.org/pages/al_gore_a_generational_challenge_to_repower_america/

  24. John Avatar
    John

    Citizen // August 21, 2008 at 1:22 am

    @John

    The aftermath of Ivan in Grenada advice. lol, I never thought of that. Thanks.
    +++++++++++++++++++++++

    Find someone who was there and listen to what they have to say about what happened. Maybe I found someone who exaggerated as Bajans do but it sure sounded logical to me.

  25. J Avatar
    J

    Clothes basket solution. Buy 2 or more. They are cheap enough. I have 2 one for sheets and towels and one for other laundry.

    Pat is in Ontario I think, but yes certainly those of us who live in Barbados should dry clothes outdoors. We have lovely wind and sun most days of the year. Many of us have nice sheltered drying space that sits empty all day while we are at work. It is called the garage, use that for drying laundry on rainy days or while at work. I have deliberately not bought a clothes dryer. If it rains for 2 weeks at a time and I cannot get enough clothes dried, then I’ll go to a laundromat. But that is only about once every year or two.

  26. J Avatar
    J

    And for those of us who live in Barbados. If possible line your window curtains, especially at east and west facing windows. Curtain lining fabric can be found on Swan street for about $6 per meter. The lined curtains are more effective at keeping the sun and heat out and the lining will double or triple the life of your curtains. I have curtains at east facing windows for which I bought the fabric at Cave Shepherd when the store was having a closing down sale about 10 years ago. There is no need for new curtains every year.

  27. John Avatar
    John

    Here is another way of reducing your electricity bill and fuel bill.

    Join the Amish.

    http://news.aol.com/article/amish-population-booming-study-finds/142277

  28. Pat Avatar
    Pat

    @John and Chuckles

    I live in Ontario. I have an outdoor clothes line and two in my basement laundry room for winter. I never dry anything fully in my dryer. Heavy stuff like jeans and towels are half dried on the line and finished in the dryer or half dried i n the dryer and finished on the line. I do this because in winter I like to direct most of my heat upstairs and there is no heat outlet in the laundry room.

    Re clothes baskets, I have three. My family is only two. My son works and does his own laundry once a week.

    Yes my hydro bill is low. But this is summer and we do lots of barbequing. I do cook on an electric stove though, so in winter it tends to be around $100.

    I have a dish washer. The water is heated by gas but i do not let the dryer go through the drying cycle. I open it and let the dishes air dry as the element in the bottom is the same size as that in the oven.

    At the house in Barbados where I stay, I replaced most of the lights last year with compact fluorescents. Some of the sockets were bayonet, but the fellow who looks after the house said he would have them changed for us and install the others. We have 3 security lights on the outside and I plan to change these with motion sensor lights next time I am down. I would like to replace the east and west windows with double glazed to keep down the heat, but it is my uncles house. I wrote him (he lives in ole Blighty) and told him that I would be willing to pay, but he has not yet responded. I dont like running the fans all day and night.

  29. Chuckles Avatar
    Chuckles

    J

    I always believe in happiness in the house. Pointeless telling my wife to use the J-Plan or the Pat-Plan to reduce the electricity and fuel bill . She would go mad if she sees soiled clothes in a basket for two weeks. Can you imagine going to a gym , perspiring profusely , wiping your skin repeatedly, returning home and putting the towel in a basket for two weeks just to save 5 dollars? We not Amish. We are Bajans.

  30. John Avatar
    John

    … maybe in Ontario people don’t sweat.

  31. RE Engineer Avatar
    RE Engineer

    @Citizen

    I have been back and forth between Barbados and abroad for a few years now so I did not think I could say if they are more or less power outages. Plus I would not go as far as to use the statement as ‘our share’ of outages. But I did a small family and friends survey and ALL replied that other than the two island wide outages that have occurred some time apart they cannot remember any real outages. Which I tend to agree with since I usually spent about 5 months a year here. I would not go as far as Carlos and say Barbadians are arrogant but I must say I believe that some can be unrealistic and I cannot and will not complain about 5 – 6 hours a year without electricity when this is clearly well below the world average. I am a strong believer in quality service and maybe I am biased by my engineering background or by my visits to other developing nations but I believe that our electricity service is damn good, bloody excellent if you ask me. And today on the radio there was a session (with Mr Worme) I believe and many called in to vent their disgust at allegedly poor service demonstrated by the islandwide blackout and I was honestly appalled and so was my dad who was listening as well, we could not believe our ears. No piece of equipment is perfect and there will always be some malfunctions and if anyone other than BL&P staff and the technical could even wrap their minds around how difficult it is to manage, maintain and repair electrical systems, they would quickly realise how fast 5 hrs really is. Ask any electrician, mechanic or network technician how long it takes to diagnose, repair and test faults be it in a building, car or telecom network and I am sure they would tell you 5 hours is great even for equipment of such a relative diminutive nature. And think about it, BL&P works tirelessly to ensure perfect service….why? During a blackout no electricity is used hence no revenue for them, secondly staff overtime for immediate repairs is costly, parts are costly and thirdly if sufficiently well protected equipment is still damaged by sudden faults (which due to their severity can still damage surge protected equipment especially in the commercial and industrial sectors) BL&P is liable and has to replace the equipment with that of equal value. So trust me when I say the last thing BL&P wants are severe power system issues. Planes crash and space shuttles explode and the systems in them are far more sophisticated and have many more fail safes (and are far more expensive) but nothing is perfect. So if perfection is sought sadly it will never be achieved.

  32. J Avatar
    J

    “You can use some or all of these strategies without making your family miserable and without going back to the stone age.” J

    Dear Chuckles:

    Just use the ones which suit your family. It is not my intention to start an energy war in any family

  33. David Avatar
    David

    @RE Engineer

    Again we cannot fault your logic. For too long Barbadians have been passive about asking questions about many things. We are starting to ask questions and the importance of developing a culture of asking questions is very important.

    We accept your argument that if we measure the outages/downtime by the BLP against other countries of similar design we should be happy, and we are happy. If you read many of our comments/blogs when we tlak about the BL&P we have been very complimentary about its service over the years. Having said that we believe that our question has not been answered 100%.

    Should Barbados have suffered an islandwide shutdown because of a ‘lighting strike’ in one sector of the grid? The bad weather last weekend can be described as mild to say the least.

  34. John Avatar
    John

    RE Engineer // August 22, 2008 at 1:10 am

    ……… and I cannot and will not complain about 5 – 6 hours a year without electricity when this is clearly well below the world average.
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    The Amish do without electricity 24/7/52.

    I note they also produce on avearage 6.8 children per family.

  35. RE Engineer Avatar
    RE Engineer

    @David

    I agree 100% with you in the fact that Barbadians have been too passive and need to ask more questions. We definitely do need to. I agree that the public has the right to know what is going on and long gone are the days of taking things at face value. Engineers at BL&P should give more detailed explanations for greater understanding. Having said that, one would expect the public to be willing to listen, assimilate, reason and draw their own conclusions. In my opinion this has not been happening, there is nothing more frustrating to a person when they are trying to explain and persons are butting in with venomous unruly accusations, forming their own conclusions without listening to logic first (NB this is generally not the way it goes on this blog….not in the least, but I find it occurs on a larger scale especially in verbal fora where quick interjection can occur). Now if you for example were explaining the inner working of this blog to me who am I to jump up and call you a liar without even listening or trying to understand what you are saying, and that is exactly what happens on many occasions and trust me, when it happens. As my grandmother always would say ‘you can’t be asking me and telling me at the same time’. So there is also a way to get answers.

    That said, lightning is lightning be it in light rain or a category 5 hurricane. Plus I have seen transformers explode in bone dry weather in broad day light it is the nature of power equipment. I can go back to the plane crash analogy, planes have crashed in bad weather and in good weather. I believe it is just the nature of things and one should not be worried about a few blackouts. There is no special time for a blackout to occur, the probability of this occurrence increases in bad weather, but they are not limited to bad weather.

  36. Tony Hall Avatar
    Tony Hall

    Engineer,
    Well said!!! The best running equipment can fail in the best of conditions. I work with a company in the financial industry which uses back up generators and UPS systems. These systems are tested bi-weekly and I have seem them fail when they were really needed. These are systems on which millions of dollars are spent. I understand that Bajans will need explanations but please do not crucify the BL&P. They are doing their best.

  37. Pat Avatar
    Pat

    I guess Bajans have not been to Jamaica and stayed in the countryside. Every night the water goes off at 9:00 and the electricity at around ten. Most times it does not come back on until the morning. If you are going out dancing, you had better fill some pails to wash when you get back, or try to sleep sweaty.

    I also experienced this nonsence in the Bahamas. I was staying at a hotel and we never got water in the afternoon, and only a tricle in the evenings.

    In Jamaica, it would appear that the power and water is diverted to the tourist resorts. I was staying up in St. Anns. In the Bahamas, I guess they did not want us to come back, and I never did go back. I was there in 1975.

  38. David Avatar
    David

    RE Engineer

    Yes indeed we agree with your line of argument and we respect the technocrats in the BU family. The interactions over the months have proved to be a learning experience of immeasurable proportion. We look forward to several more interactions going forward.

    We find it interesting that the BL&P PR machinery has gone into full gear which has seen the General Manager Peter Williams and Mike King coming to the public to explain current plans to place the transmissions lines for the two remaining sub stations underground and a switch to fiber optics technology. They have affirmed that this will make their power distribution more robust. We find it very interesting indeed. We accept the argument that BL&P has been reliable over the years, we also accept that the business of making their network more reliable is a work in progress.

    Despite all that has been said our layman view remains that a strike in one sector of the BL&P network should not shut the whole system down. We believe that this points to a design flaw.

    As an fyi please see the link which highlights similar problems in Cayman Power company who found it necessary to apologize for recent blackouts.

  39. Citizen Avatar
    Citizen

    @RE Engineer

    Thanks for the explanation. I do agree service by BL&P has been good despite recent islandwide outages.

    I don’t listen to call in programs cuz I have no time to waste on talk with no action. If what you say is happening, then to me it’s ridiculous how people jump to conclusions without knowing the facts, but I’ve learn to accept that’s just how people are – such is life! All I’ve done is ask questions!

    However, radio call in programmes, to me, are just a vent for a few people, a few people who do not necessarily reflect the view of the country as a whole. Plus, how often can you ask the real hard hitting questions on radio or even state the real facts they don’t want you the public to know? How often does the good gets reported anyway? How often do people who have good service even write/call to complement?

    Be that as it may, as David said, the questions need to be asked. And in this day and age shouldn’t we have some kind of redundancy so that something like this won’t happen? That is, where lightning at one place don’t overload the entire network. Why can’t BL&P just admit that they don’t have a system in place to counter this particular type of problem. I know about equipment. I know they can break down at anytime even for no apparent reason. I also know that when you really need them to work well they just greatly disappoint you. So I know. I also know about creating a grid where if one area is affected the entire grid won’t be shut down by an overload. So based on what you’re explained, if true, simply means Barbados just don’t have such a grid in place, and wouldn’t that be simple for BL&P to explain!? 🙂 Well, perhaps not. (I don’t care about other countries, we’re talking about Barbados). Btw, an apology and being upfront helps.

  40. RE Engineer Avatar
    RE Engineer

    @David and Citizen

    I don’t know how else to explain it but it is not simple as system redundancy there is plenty of that, as much as economically feasible. What you guys are saying is just like the question ‘if the black box of the plane is indestructable why don’t you just build the entire plane from the same material?’ It is just not that simple. There are many system redundancies in place and that is why black outs are few and far apart and islandwide ones less seldom. And I will tell you from an engineering perspective there is no design flaw. How often do computers crash? Does that mean that the operating system has huge design flaws? I am in no way trying to stick up for BL&P, I call it as I see it. And from an engineering point of view the answer to the black box question is cost and feasibility. What is to be expected of BL&P? A perfect system? Can we afford such? Does such even exist? I gave evidence that we are well within the standard of industrialized countries. Every place in the world has large area black outs. Areas far more vast than Barbados for sure. What is expected? Have Barbadians been so pampered that they cannot come to grips with a few hours without electricity so there must be a terrible flaw? BL&P did apologise up front it was in the Nation the following day. I cannot comprehend what more is needed. The link from Cayman Islands just notes that the company apologised and they did not even fully know the cause of the outages themselves. Which proves my point as to the complex nature of power systems. Statistically if your system has over 90% availability it is considered excellent. We have to be well over 99%. So I cannot agree that the system is flawed in anyway and as Pat and John noted many nations have it much worse. I think we need to be greatful and not just look to point fingers it is quite disappointing cause it is like 5 hrs man, seriously, some nations only have like 5hrs of electricity per day. As time goes on and technology evolves I am sure these percentages will get better. But on a world scale we are on par and I don’t believe it is unreasonable to live in these contraints for a country of our economic standing.

  41. David Avatar
    David

    @RE Engineer

    We hear what you are saying, we really do and we respect the the time you have taken to breakdown a complicated matter into baby junks for the BU family family. Look us stress the point that we don’t care about the other islands and their power distribution performance. The reason why Barbados has been able to attract the reputation of a highly developed island in comparison to countries in its so-called peer group can be attributed to the reliability of the power supply and the telecommunication infrastructure which ranks us up there on the measuring stick.

    You continue to use the reliability number of 99.99% for the B&P which is GOOD. What we would want to see is that downtime number calculated maybe over the last 2-3 years. it is our sense that the BL&P has been suffering more outages in this period than many years before. Remember that we are asking questions and this is critical given the absence of a vibrant consumer advocacy culture in Barbados.

    The final point which we want to through on the table is the statement made by the BL&P last week that they have allocated 40 million dollars to make some adjustments to their network which will make it more robust in the future.

  42. Bush tea Avatar
    Bush tea

    David,

    RE Engineer has been doing a great job for BL&P so far and Bush tea has been learning a lot.
    It seems to me that the issue here lies in the complexity of the systems which automatically react to trauma on the electricity system when things like lightning and physical impacts etc occur.

    Obviously, these automatic systems have to react in Milli- seconds to open switches, shutdown machines, protect lines from overload, over voltage and under voltage.

    It is relatively easy to co-ordinate such automatic systems generally, however when major faults occur at the very hub of your system co-ordination becomes extremely complex…

    Do you delay opening a switch for an extra Millisecond or do you protect a 20 million dollar piece of equipment from possible damage???

    …you end up with an extremely complex mathematical quandary.
    Generally speaking, it works well and when ordinary problems occur, no one is the wiser since the system works….

    Occasionally however, something radical occurs – and lightning is radical! where you may get a strike resulting in extremely large voltages and current spikes that play havoc with your finely tuned protective systems…. all hell breaks loose.

    …despite all that BL&P may tell you, occasionally, THIS IS UNAVOIDABLE in a small system like ours.

    In large systems, the ‘hub’ is not represented by any particular local area, so even if such a system is similarly impacted, alternative supply arrangements would normally automatically redirect supply until the affected equipment can be returned to service Even so, these large systems occasionally experience catastrophic failures.

    BL&P provides an excellent service, way above the world average for a small exposed isolated island system. Rather than talk about expensive, unrealistic proposals to place lines underground (which will not preclude many of the situations that can cause catastrophic shutdown -including failure of said underground cables), BL&P should explain their limitations and help Bajans to appreciate what we have.
    ref:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_and_monitoring_of_the_electrical_energy_transmission_net

  43. David Avatar
    David

    @Bush tea, RE Engineer et al

    The feedback from the BU family continues to exceed expectations. We appreciate it!

  44. RE Engineer Avatar
    RE Engineer

    @BushTea

    I agree with everything you said 100%.

    @David

    As I said in terms of downtime I did my own little survey (MSN contacts about 30 or so and other family and friends about 15 or so) and ALL have told me they have not seen an increase in the number of blackouts just 2 issues of an islandwide black out that are more memorable. I guess I would have to see if I can get the real figures because I cannot say myself since I was out of the island for about 3/5 of the year. I agree with you that Barbados is up there on the world scale in terms of telecom and power generation and there is nothing wrong with striving to be on top. But one must note it comes at a price and as Barbadians continue to complain about high electricity prices are they willing to spend even more to take that realibility from 99.99% to 99.999%?

    BL&P allocates millions of dollars every year to put a portion of their distribution network underground. This is an ongoing process to increase system reliability and and reduce faults. It has been going on for years now it is not a recent development.

  45. John Avatar
    John

    RE Engineer // August 24, 2008 at 11:41 am

    @BushTea

    I agree with everything you said 100%.

    @David

    As I said in terms of downtime I did my own little survey (MSN contacts about 30 or so and other family and friends about 15 or so) and ALL have told me they have not seen an increase in the number of blackouts just 2 issues of an islandwide black out that are more memorable. I guess I would have to see if I can get the real figures because I cannot say myself since I was out of the island for about 3/5 of the year.
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++

    BL&P has them published in todays paper at page 20A for this year, January to August 18.

    Looks like the numbers vary from parish to parish.

    Causes vary from “vehicle striking a pole” to “investigations continuing”.

    Would be intersesting to see the figures from last year not only to compare but also to see how the one the Monkey caused is described.

    Power outages in my neck of the woods are few and far between.

    I have no complaints.

    Besides, if the Amish can do without electricity so can I.

  46. Bush tea Avatar
    Bush tea

    One last point RE Engineer and David, since you are both young….

    …in old days, countless stories abounded about ‘fork’ and ‘bolt’ lightning -including sightings of lightning ‘balls’ doing incredulous and frightful things.

    One of the reasons that such ‘sightings’ are rear nowadays I believe, relates to the almost 100% coverage of our overhead electricity distribution system. Most lightning strikes now end up being directed to ground through this extensive network of conductors -especially through the overhead earth conductor.

    Far from complaining about the few times that nature’s most powerful generator overwhelms their puny system, I think that BL&P does well not to suffer more damage due to such strikes and that we owe them a debt for helping to minimize damage to private and other properties that could well result from lightning strikes, were their network not in place.

    ….Bush tea ain’t too sure that underground is all that it is sold to be…life tends to be complicated.

  47. John Avatar
    John

    http://bararchive.bits.baseview.com/archive_detail.php?archiveFile=./pubfiles/bar/archive/2008/August/24/Business/63608.xml&start=0&numPer=20&keyword=outages&sectionSearch=&begindate=1%2F1%2F1994&enddate=12%2F31%2F2008&authorSearch=&IncludeStories=1&pubsection=&page=&IncludePages=1&IncludeImages=1&mode=allwords&archive_pubname=Daily+Nation%09%09%09

    Here is the link to the story and a discussion of the outages in this and past years.

    In looking at the Nation archive I discovered that 2006 was the year of the Monkey, not 2007.

  48. Chuckles Avatar
    Chuckles

    Bush Tea

    Fork , sheet and ball lightning can still be seen at night in the sky from time to time in some areas of Barbados. When you were a boy, few people had electricity installed at their homes and there were much fewer street lights. It was easier to detect the lightning flashes every night at that time than at present. Fork lightning can be seen moving from the cloud to the ground in steps whereas sheet lightning can be seen when the lightning is close to the horizon. I would be guessing if I tell you what ball lightning is but I would still get a mark or two if I said it looks like a ball i.e the type that lights up the entire sky during a thunder storm . lol

  49. Bush tea Avatar
    Bush tea

    True Chuckles,
    However, the stories I had in mind (but which I failed to properly state) were of the effects of lightning on the ground, ‘balls’ of lightning moving through villages, trees shredded, etc

    Maybe these were old wives tales, but stories of ‘balls of lightning’ passing through houses instilled great fear in us as children during storms.

    We were instructed to ‘cover mirrors’ , not to touch anything metallic during a storm
    etc.
    With the ‘national earth grid’ now installed throughout the Island and certainly in all homes with electricity, I have not heard of many such stories of late…. just damaged equipment.

  50. Micro Mock Engineer Avatar
    Micro Mock Engineer

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning

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