St Lucia Electricity Services Limited (LUCELEC) is continuing efforts to reduce interruptions to the electricity supply to customers. The power company is improving its protection systems through a major software upgrade and training in its use. 

Currently nine members of staff are attending a training workshop in how to use the software which maintains the relays used by the electricity company to pinpoint and repair faults on its network. Relays are protective devices that ensure any changes in the electricity network are immediately communicated to the System Control Centre.

LUCELEC Assistant Planning Engineer Mr Ormond Reece says the relays detect faults on the network and allow the company’s technicians to respond appropriately.

“At LUCELEC we have well over 500 relays throughout the network. The software will help us optimize the settings of these relays and investigate unintended operations of the devices,” says Mr Reece.

For LUCELEC customers, quick detection of a fault by a relay results in immediate repair and minimal, if any, interruption in the electricity supply. Similarly, because relays only function in specific areas, it means only customers where the fault is detected stand to be affected.

The new software was recently installed at all seven LUCELEC substations and the power station in Cul-de-Sac. The week long training workshop will build internal capacity by teaching staff how to use the software.

The workshop is being facilitated by Mr Paul Franklin Mc Guire who has over two decades of experience in the field.  Mr Mc Guire says the software is being used in over 200 countries including other islands in the Caribbean.