Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro (Hydro) is advising customers on the Island that the company is advancing work on the Combustion Turbine plant and will reach an important milestone over the next two to three days as it connects the plant to the electricity system.

Over the past 10 days, Hydro has brought power to the plant from the electricity system and has also completed numerous successful firings or start ups of the plant. As Hydro connects the Combustion Turbine Plant to the electricity system and continues testing online, there may be some potential for short power interruptions. Hydro will monitor weather and the system status throughout the process in order to minimize customer impacts.

If there is a loss of power supply impacting customers during this time, power restoration will begin as soon as possible using existing generation reserves. If outages do occur, they are expected to be short in duration.

Following connection to the grid, Hydro will be generating power from the facility as the company continues to commission and test the plant at various capacity levels. The present plan is to step up incrementally over the next 10 days or so. During this process, the plant can be called upon to support generation if there is a significant system event which requires the provision of additional power for customers beyond the current system capabilities.

However, we do not anticipate any issues meeting customer demand in the days ahead. Our existing generation fleet across the province is performing well and we have healthy reserves. The seven day load forecast is favourable.

Hydro is committed to keeping customers and the public informed and we will continue to update on our progress.

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