Bandar Seri Begawan - The Department of Electrical Services (DES) conducted what is termed as a "brownout" yesterday, to avoid the gas turbine generators from shutting down, by cutting power supply to certain areas in the Brunci-Muara district, and turning off two-thirds of the street lights from the Tetanal junction to Kampung Jangsak and along the Muara-Berakas highway

A panel of staff from DES, last night informed The Brunei Times that brownout is a term commonly used in the utility service to mean an intentionally-engineered power outage. These are usually carried out in response to a situation where demand for electricity exceeds the power supply capability of the network as had happened last night.

They explained that due to the blackout that occurred on September 28 (Monday), some gas turbine generators were not yet up and running, and therefore not enough electricity could be produced to meet the normal demand.

Due to the heat and haze, the situation was made worse as electricity demand went beyond normal. DES stated that if the gas turbine generators were to work at maximum capacity, the stress to these machines could cause them to shut down automatically and create even more problems.

DES therefore, had taken the steps to "load shed". During a manual shutdown, these generators would be turned off slowly according to stages, allowing the machines to cool. However, if the machines were to `trip' this could cause thermal stress and damage, and complicate efforts to turn the generator back on.

DES said that if members of the public would cooperate and only consume the necessary amount of electricity situations like these could be avoided. The electrical outage was planned at around seven in the evening last night as this is the time that electricity demand peaks.

The demand for electricity then drops at around 9pm. DES staff have been working round the clock to restore electricity supply to the country since the blackout on Monday.

A staff said that some of his colleagues have not stopped working since the major blackout. As of press time, DES informed the paper that two gas turbine generators were down in Seria, one was due to maintenance.

Work is under way to start the second, and this would be sufficient to ensure uninterrupted electricity flows in the area. In addition, all gas turbine generators in Brunei -Muara are up and running, and electricity has been restored to all parts of Brunei-Muara.

The recent disruption at the main electrical station in Gadong has caused several areas in Brunei to plunge into darkness. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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