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By the end of the second quarter of this year, more than 50% of customers of Barbados Light & Power will be supplied by circuits equipped with distribution automation technology.
Director of Transmission and Distribution, Nneka Archer, says that figure is expected to rise to 81% within the next three years.
So far this year, 61 switches have been installed at a cost of $5 million Barbados dollars.
Dr. Archer made the disclosure during a media engagement session focused on the company’s landmark installation of distribution automation technologies.
She noted that Barbados Light & Power still has approximately three more years of automation work ahead, at an additional estimated cost of $5 million.
Dr. Archer explained that the automation system functions as a “self-healing grid”.
She said that if there is a fault on a feeder, it will no longer result in outages affecting more than a thousand customers simultaneously.
Dr. Archer added that the remaining 19% of customers are connected to underground or smaller networks where alternative solutions will be implemented.
