To address the problems of electric supply in the region, PNG Power Limited has focused its efforts on addressing key issues in the country.
According to Managing Director Flaggon Bekker, the organisation was split into two - corporate and execution - to see how to solve these problems.
“With the split in the organisation, there are no-cost implications or job loses rather we are having staff working in the right places and addressing a specific problem,” he said, adding that they are looking at other problems aside from ageing equipment that causes power outages.
“For land issues, we need local and provincial governments’ involvement, we want to execute the project but we can’t leave the solutions for landowners,” he said. “We need all the governments around the PNG Electrification Partnership (PEP) project to engage with us to address this because the projects are important and are national projects.”
To address illegal power connections, PNG Power has introduced smart meters.
“This (smart meters) is a project we are working with donor partners as a solution for illegal connection,” he said. “Smart meter is a meter that goes in and comes out and is digitally linked. When that difference changes then there is a leak and there is an illegal connection.”
The group is also looking at fixing specific parts of power grinds in the region.
“Solutions will be different in different places because the problems might be slightly different and components can be different but the same strategy will be applied in all the power grids,” he said. “We will be looking at the certain parts of the grid and when we strengthen it (or the weakest link) this will help the whole grid.”
