STELCO stated today that they are planning to temporarily shut down the 50 megawatt power station at Hulhumale' Phase 1 in order to conduct upgrades.
Even though the engines will be shut down, Hulhumale' will still receive electricity from Male' via the Greater Male' Interconnection Grid. STELCO said that if the electricity load does not increase beyond their expectations, they will not be turning off the power.
The engines will be turned off on Saturday from 3:00pm to 8:00pm.
STELCO's Managing Director Dr. Ali Azwar spoke to journalists regarding the upgrade, stating that the engines are being shut down to bring about a necessary upgrade to the power system of the power station in order to provide a more stable electricity service to the Male' region.
"As the upgrade requires the engines to be shut down, we are informing everyone of the schedule ahead of time," said Azwar.
The reason Azwar stated for the engine shutdown on Saturday is because of the decrease in electricity load when residents of Male' leave for the upcoming Eid holidays, with the load at its lowest during midnight and dawn on Saturday, as per their observations.
The upgrade work is being conducted by two foreign engineers, with some engineers taking part in the process online, as was said by Azwar.
STELCO's General Manager Ibrahim Nashid said that with the upgrade, there will be an opportunity to feed additional generation to the power station, with an increase to the electricity generation capacity in the Male' region.
"The work will begin the instant the power station is shut down. Even though it may be turned off, the high sPOD's that have been installed in Male' and Hulhumale' will still generate and provide electricity without interruption. We expect Male' and Hulhumale' to utilize 75 megawatts," said Nasheed.
He also stated that "even though the engines may be shut down, we still have the capability to generate 90 megawatts of electricity."
Even though the six generator sets in the power station may be shut down, Nashid assured that there would be no power outages. However, he said that if electricity usage exceeds power generation while the upgrade effort takes place, some areas may experience power outages.
STELCO's Chief Technical Officer Ahmed Iqbal said that among the upgrades is an upgrade to their "SCADA" and PLS, both of which allows STELCO to provide electricity to islands.
He said that the upgrade work is meant to provide an even better service than before along with modern resources.
STELCO said that while the upgrade work is being done, if the situation where electricity has to be shut down presents itself, they will immediately share that information on social media.
