Alex Oa

PNG Power Ltd (PPL) acting CEO, Alex Oa, says the projects for Kavieng in New Ireland Province and Alotau, Milne Bay Province, have been stalled while the land issue is addressed.

The Asian Development Bank-supported project aims to harness solar generated power for use in the districts.

Oa said while those are pending, they have received interest from the East New Britain Province for a similar project.

This is by ensuring that there are customers who are actually paying for the service.

PPL acting CEO, Alex Oa, says with a PPA it must ensure that all its electricity is sold.

The state entity currently has a PPA with Oil Search for the biomass fuel project in Markham, Morobe Province, to supply the Ramu power grid with 30 megawatts of renewable, biomass-fired power.

Oa says they working to ensure there is a revenue base for them.

Acting CEO, Alex Oa, revealed this on Thursday.

He said moving away from diesel was one of the main objectives of PPL by looking at alternative power sources.

Oa said PPL is currently looking into power generation sources which are cheap and quick to deliver.

This is because diesel engine power generators are costing the state entity revenue.

He said for many of the proposed power generation projects, PPL is prioritising alternative means.

PNG Power Acting CEO, Alex Oa, in a statement said: “PNG Power linesmen patrolled the lines to the ExxonMobil LNG Power Plant and discovered that bottles were tied to a piece of wire and thrown over the power line at Koukou, outside Port Moresby.

“These caused a short circuit on the system at 4.41am, causing ExxonMobil Power Station to cut off, putting a huge burden on other power stations, resulting in them shutting down.”

The wire has since been removed from the transmission line, resulting in the ExxonMobil Power Station reconnecting back into the system.