In Brief
- Widespread Outage: At least 23 communities across Trinidad lost power at 4:45 a.m. on Tuesday after two generators tripped at an Independent Power Producer (IPP) facility.
- Quick Restoration: T&TEC began restoring electricity in phases at 5:21 a.m., with full power returning to all affected areas by 6:29 a.m.
- Reliability Review: Acknowledging a recent pattern of similar incidents, the utility said it is working with power producers to address the underlying causes and stabilise the national grid.
More than 20 communities across Trinidad were hit by a pre-dawn power outage on Tuesday after two generators tripped at an Independent Power Producer (IPP) facility.
In a statement, the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) confirmed that the disruption began at 4.45 am, cutting electricity to wide sections of north, central, east and south Trinidad.
Crews began restoring power on a phased basis at 5.21 am, about 36 minutes after the initial trip, and supply was fully restored to all affected customers by 6.29 am.
The outage affected sections of the capital and the East-West Corridor, including Port of Spain, Sea Lots, Chaguaramas, Valsayn, St Augustine, Orange Grove, Trincity, Arouca, Piarco and Malabar.
Communities in central, eastern and southern Trinidad were also hit, including Caroni, Cunupia, Chaguanas, Charlieville, Longdenville, Freeport, Brickfield, Sangre Grande, Manzanilla, Biche, Rio Claro, Craignish and Fyzabad.
T&TEC did not name the independent power provider involved, but acknowledged that generator trips at IPP plants have been behind several recent unplanned outages.
The utility said it is working closely with the power producers to review the incidents, identify the underlying causes and put preventative measures in place to reduce the risk of repeat failures and strengthen the stability of the national grid.
