By Olimatou Coker
A senior official at the National Water and Electricity Company Nawec, has attributed the recurring power outages in parts of the Greater Banjul Area and Brikama to overloaded electricity feeders, faulty transformers, and occasional reductions in electricity imports from Senegal.
Speaking in an interview, Nawec’s Public Relations Officer Pierre Sylva said he had consulted the company’s Senior Manager of Transmission and Distribution Department, overseeing electricity feeders, transformers, and power distribution, to better understand the causes of the outages.
According to him, places like Brufut and its surrounding communities that have been hit hard by the current power outages, receive electricity through the Tranquil feeder, which is currently operating beyond its capacity.
“The Tranquil feeder is overloaded and during peak hours in the evening, we have to switch off some areas to stabilise the system, otherwise it will trip,” Sylva said, quoting technicians.
He said he also sought clarification about the prolonged outage that affected Brikama, during which some residents were without electricity for nearly 48 hours.
He said power outage there was linked to technical issues that engineers were working to resolve at the time.
On the persistent power interruptions in Brikama, Sylva said the main challenge lies with the Jamisa transformer which is always developing faults. “Even after it is repaired, it trips again, which continues to affect electricity supply in the area,” he said.
Sylva added that electricity supply in The Gambia is also influenced by power imports from Senegal. According to him, there are occasions when The Gambia does not receive its full electricity allocation, while at other times Senegal reduces supply because of technical challenges within its own network.
He also noted that Karpowership, the power supplier operating in Senegal, had experienced technical faults over the past two days, affecting electricity supplies to The Gambia.
“As a result, Nawec was forced to temporarily disconnect several feeders to stabilise the electricity network and maintain supply across the Greater Banjul Area,” Sylva said.
These explanations come amid growing public concern over recurring power outages affecting homes and businesses across several parts of the GBA even after things seem to have normalised from the acute power crisis of May- June.
