Danny Dumaresque casts doubts on power grid's winter readiness

A former Liberal MHA and vocal critic of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro says the island portion of the province could be facing another #DarkNL this winter.

Danny Dumaresque believes the Crown corporation made a mistake in buying a seven-year-old combustion turbine for the Holyrood generating station.

• Hydro says timeline for combustion turbine 'under pressure'

Installation of the $120-million turbine is being fast-tracked so it's ready to be pushed into service if needed this winter, but Hydro officials have stated the Dec. 6 completion date is "under pressure."

The backup turbine is part of a wider effort by Hydro to ensure the province's electrical grid is ready this winter, since no one wants to a repeat of the rolling blackouts that left thousands without power during an especially cold stretch of winter in January.

Hydro officials are expected to give an update on that effort in the coming days.

Dumaresque, however, says the turbine was not thoroughly inspected and its computer system may be obsolete.

If Hydro had purchased a new machine, the problems would have been covered under warranty.

"Here we are in Newfoundland and Labrador today thinking that this is guaranteed to be our backup this coming winter to prevent another DarkNL, and I am concerned right now that it's not going to be even there for us at all during the coming winter season," said Dumaresque.

Dumaresque doubts the turbine will be ready for the contracted start date on Dec. 6.

Hydro expects to know by that time when the unit will be ready to go online.