RESTORATION UPDATE

PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT REVEALS INTENSE LIGHTNING ACTIVITY AS A CONTRIBUTOR

TO ALL-ISLAND BLACKOUT

DETAILED INVESTIGATIONS ARE UNDERWAY

(Kingston, Jamaica – Saturday, June 6, 8:45 p.m.)  JPS is reporting that an initial assessment has linked the all-island blackout on Friday, June 5 to intense lightning activity. Speaking at a media briefing at the company’s head office on Saturday, JPS President and CEO, Hugh Grant, said lightning strikes impacted several transmission lines simultaneously, resulting in a cascading effect which brought power generation facilities offline across the island.

The President said that five transmission (high voltage) lines in the corporate area were hit during a series of lightning strikes last evening, triggering the shutdown of generation plants, and transmission and substation facilities island-wide.

JPS shared that investigations are underway to ascertain the true cause of the incident.

Back-up Systems Worked

The Company further noted that its back-up supply system operated as it should, allowing JPS teams to black start or self-start the Bogue power plant in St. James and the South Jamaica Power Company in St. Catherine.  Self-starting these power plants enabled the restoration process to commence within an hour of the incident, returning electricity to customers on a phased basis. The grid was fully restored at approximately 6:30 am on Saturday morning.

JPS has committed to provide further updates, as investigations continue.