Infrastructure, transportation
Iqaluit faces rolling blackouts as power plant sputters 
(Chris Windeyer/Nunatsiaq News, 29 August 2011) -- Iqaluit faces the prospect of several days of rolling blackouts after the main generator at the city’s power plant broke down during the early morning hours of Aug. 29. Power was out early Monday in the Plateau subdivision, parts of Tundra Ridge and Apex. The Government of Nunavut also announced on Twitter that all schools in Iqaluit are closed. Schools will re-open Wednesday, Aug. 31, the GN said. Peter Mackey, president of Qulliq Energy Corp., said the outages began when the power plant’s main generator broke down at the same time that another generator had been taken offline for maintenance. The engine’s turbo system suffered a malfunction of a major component that’s not easily replaced, Mackey said. “It’s not something that’s kept on the shelf,” he said. The two remaining generators can only produce 5.2 megawatts of the 7.5 megawatts Iqaluit needs to fully function during the summer. QEC put replacement parts on rush order, but Mackey said the soonest Iqaluit could be back at full power is Wednesday.
Posted 29 August 2011; 2:45:45 PM. Permalink
Tagged: August11, Canada, Circumpolar News, Communities, Infrastructure, transportation, Nunavut
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