STELCO opens backup powerhouse in Hulhumale’

State Electric Company (STELCO) has opened a powerhouse in suburban Hulhumale’ for use in emergency situations.

The backup powerhouse, built at the site of STELCO’s first powerhouse in Hulhumale’, was opened by the company’s managing director Ahmed Shareef on Sunday.

Speaking at the ceremony, Shareef said that with 14 generators, the powerhouse has the capacity to generate 20.2 megawatts of power.

“There are 10 generators inside. We also have an additional four containerized generators and three new generators ready for installation,” he said.

Shareef said the idea for the backup powerhouse was born due to a recent spike in power consumption, straining the company’s existing generators.

He refuted rumors that the generators at the backup powerhouse were old generators discarded from other powerhouses, and said they were of good quality.

“We developed this power plant with some of the new generators we recently procured,” he said.

Shareef said the new powerhouse will act as a backup in situations where the generators at STELCO’s main powerhouses fail or are down for maintenance.

“We will use this power plant only if additional power is required, above the capacity of our three main plants,” he said.

Male’ Powerhouse’s general manager Ahmed Sharuneez, who headed the project to build the backup powerhouse, said the generators at the new powerhouse will be turned on if the other generators overload.