«As long as the balance of Saint-Martin’s electricity system remains fragile, this risks happening again“. Emma Dahomay, Territorial Delegate of EDF Guadeloupe Saint-Martin, repeats, the island of Saint-Martin needs its new electricity production plant. While the Community has launched the procedure to acquire land where “ Albioma », a 20 megawatt power plant, she points the finger “an implementation that drags“. Currently, the Galisbay power plant no longer ensures sufficient production to meet the electricity consumption of Saint-Martin, which recorded a further increase of 6% in 2024, on average, compared to 2023.
«To keep the engines running and avoid a blackout, we are carrying out heavy maintenance on the installations of this power plant which are starting to be very aging.», adds Emma Dahomay. The scheduled work, started a few days ago, will last until the beginning of November. In the meantime, load shedding should be more numerous, like those that occurred last Wednesday, afternoon and evening in different districts of Saint-Martin, for more than 5,000 local customers. The territorial delegate recalls that EDF communicates certain “forecast programs of load shedding» on its social networks during these maintenance operations, but in addition to this, there are unforeseen outages due to technical incidents occurring at the Galisbay power plant. To protect against the lack of electricity production, 13 generators had already been made available by EDF in the first half of 2024. 5 others, of 1 megawatt each, were installed in August.
The CCISM calls for “clear forecasts”
With the upcoming disruptions, EDF invited users “to limit electricity consumption to what is strictly necessary“. And this, referring to eco-friendly actions to adopt, in particular on the use of air conditioning and the management of swimming pool pumps. “These are the two elements that consume the most in Saint-Martin», says Emma Dahomay. An invitation quickly called into question by the Interprofessional Consular Chamber of Saint-Martin this afternoon. “The economic players in the region, businesses, craftsmen, traders and farmers cannot manage their activities solely with “tips” or “eco-friendly gestures. They need clear forecasts, precise indicators, forecast deadlines. It is only within this framework that they will be able to grasp the issues and adjust their actions with discernment but above all will be able to adapt their activity to the difficulties that present themselves to them. reacted the president of the CCISM, Angèle Dormoy. She relates “immediate consequences» production limitations for companies and calls for greater consultation among the socio-professional bodies of Saint-Martin, “before any other form of communication”.
