The issues with power outages continue as the Niue Power Corporation calls for people to use power conservatively over the next few days as the team tries to resolve the issues with their Tesla batteries.
Acting Director of Utilities Brandon Kulatea told BCN News that they are working with Tesla engineers to try and fix the problem but at the moment they are running on diesel generators 24/7, to carry the load.
On Friday last week, power was interrupted on the island and according to the Niue Power team, “The battery system was offline and the team was trying to fix one of the faulty generators to help carry the load”.
Brandon Kulatea said that the call to minimize the use of power and conserve energy is ongoing as they try to get their BESS system operating as soon as possible.
Kulatea said that one way to help is to switch off air conditioning units
“This may mean, turning off your air conditioning and opening windows to let some fresh air in”.
Just last month, power was cut to the northern and eastern villages due to a faulty line, which was identified at the village of Lakepa.
Questions as to when the new power station will be ready for use were raised last year. Eight months ago the Director of the Department of Utilities Clinton Chapman told BCN News that “The new power station built next door to the existing one at Tuila will not be commissioned for another twelve months possibly, as there is still much work required to fit the new power station”.
In the meantime, the public is asked to help minimize power consumption and hope that the need to ration power is behind us.