St. Vincent Electricity Services Limited (VINLEC) says it will decommission the pipeline serving the Cumberland 3 Hydropower Station and shut down the station’s generators effective Tuesday, Sept. 30.
Cumberland 3, commissioned in 1986, is one of three stations in the cascade system operated by VINLEC in the Spring Village area.
It is the power station visible from the main road.
VINLEC said the decision follows engineering assessments and community engagement that considered safety, social and environmental factors, as well as the feasibility of alternative pipeline routes.
“Cumberland 3 has served the country for nearly four decades. However, there are now homes that have been constructed much closer to the wood-stave pipeline that serves Cumberland 3 than when it was originally constructed and this potentially presents a danger to occupants of those homes in the event of a catastrophic pipeline failure, which could be caused by a variety of reasons” CEO of VINLEC, Vaughn Lewis said.
In addition to residents’ safety, social and environmental considerations were also raised by community members, who noted that water diversion for power generation significantly reduces river flow in the dry season and affects the use of the river for washing and recreation.
Decommissioning Cumberland 3, which accounts for less than 2% of the VINLEC’s total electricity output, will not affect the reliability of electricity supply, the company said.
Operations will continue at the two other hydro-stations in the Cumberland system, Cumberland 1 and Cumberland 2, which producesignificantly more energy than Cumberland 3.
The hydropower stations at South Rivers and Richmond, both of which generate more energy than Cumberland 3, will also continue to operate.
“VINLEC takes this opportunity to urge residents to stay clear of all pipeline infrastructure. For continued safety, refrain from touching, tampering, digging, and constructing homes or any other structures in close proximity to VINLEC pipelines,” the company said.
The Cumberland 3 compound will also remain open as it is the location from which operators monitor and run Cumberland 1 & 2, and the Richmond Power Station.
It also houses a number of other essential services.
VINLEC said that despite the retirement of Cumberland 3, VINLEC continues to advance several renewable energy projects to ensure continued progress towards sustainability.
These include replacing the Lowmans Bay solar farm with a notably larger, modern system that will replace over half of Cumberland 3’s renewable energy output.
This project is scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2026.
There is also an ongoing project to install a 5MWh battery storage system at the Cane Hall Power Station to improve generator efficiency, reduce fuel use, and support more renewables on the grid from both VINLEC and private installations.
Wise decision.
VINLEC should consider wind power also. Right now solar power is pretty good.
This absolutely makes no economics nor power sense. What is the MW output of the 2% #3 hydro plant. We do not know what 2% means. 2% of 24.7MW is 0.5MW or 5000KW or equivalent to 7,692 homes at 650W each home.
In the world we live in, every country is trying to reduce and eliminate fuel burning energy source. Why would you consider the alternative. These pipes poses no threat to human safety.
Since 1986, how many pipes burst causing any damage to the environment around the pipelines!? River recreation? You said it is only 2% of energy production, so this means the flow is minimal. No one complains about a river flow when the water is in use for a good cause.
Unless if there is overcapacity of energy production, and or the power plant is damaged or equipment is failing beyond repair, you have not produced any good reason to retire the power plant #3 Cumberland.
Regards
HJW
Who came first, the power plant or the encroaching residents? That’s poor planning from the relative Department by allowing the encroachment. (No pun intended, but the word encroachment is born from the word ROACH and that my friends tells the story of human behavior).
People move into areas that should not be residential and then want to make demands and sadly they get long standing infrastructures to close down.
Then they complain when they do not get the service they caused to shut down.
Here its the principal that matters, not the residents demands.
I suppose its stupidity at its best in the world of today.
Hooray!!!!!
This must be a joke. These so-called renewables just push the price of energy up. In Australia as much as 5 times. They just shut down a $2.2b wind farm. Fortunately, it was private enterprise so the taxpayers would not be burdened with the bill unlike the geothermal bill in SVG.