AN 80-tonne transformer that was damaged last Thursday caused power outages in both the Central and Western Divisions.
And Energy Fiji Limited (EFL) chief executive officer Hasmukh Patel said this now required expensive repairs to be carried out abroad.
“Last Thursday at 5pm, one of our power transformers had tripped and went out of operation. As a result, we had parts of the Western Division and parts of the Central Division went without power supply,” Mr Patel said at a press conference today.
“We arranged for an expert in transformers belonging to a transformer company in Sydney, and together with that international expert, we carried out testing of this transformer that had failed on Thursday, we carried out testing on Friday.”
Mr Patel said after international experts conducted testing on the failed transformer, it was determined that extensive damage would require repairs from overseas in order to safely restore its operation.
He said EFL had already contacted a number of companies in Australia and New Zealand to locate a replacement transformer to remedy the situation as quickly and efficiently as possible.
