There “ widespread power outage » which has affected all of Guadeloupe since Friday morning is still in progress, declared the prefect, who decreed a curfew for the night from Friday to Saturday, from 7:00 p.m. local time (11:00 p.m. UT).
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“ In order to prevent the risk of disturbances to public order in the context of the widespread power cut, the prefect decides to implement a generalized curfew » throughout the territory, from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., indicated, in a press release, the prefecture of the Guadeloupe.
This outage will not be resolved for several hours, the network reset not being ” still not effective » at 4 p.m. local time, according to the prefect. “ The return to normal will only be effective within four hours from the reset of the electricity network », Warned the prefect, who requisitioned employees necessary for the operation of the plant supplying almost the entire archipelago with electricity.
A few hours earlier, he had accused “ striking employees » to have entered the control room at 8:30 a.m. and to have “ caused the emergency shutdown of all the engines » from the Jarry power plant. Other sites providing electricity were impacted, according to prefect Xavier Lefort, who denounced on the Guadeloupe la 1ère channel a “ sabotage “.
For several weeks, a social conflict has opposed the energy branch of the CGT and the management of EDF Insular Electric Production (PEI) in this territory of the French Antilles of nearly 380,000 inhabitants.
72 hours of autonomy in hospital
In Guadeloupe, the announcement of this widespread outage caused some concern, particularly concerning the distribution of water and the operation of the hospital. At the Guadeloupe Hospital Center (CHUG), “ the maintenance teams activated the generators on all the sites concerned “, the hospital said in a press release. “ The hospital’s critical units have an autonomy of 72 hours », continued the CHUG.
“ Mobile telephone networks are in very degraded mode “, reported the prefecture, referring to an interruption in the distribution of water in several municipalities, affecting “ 30% of the global population including 80% of Grande Terre “.
“ Firefighter telephone lines may be temporarily inaccessible for certain users. », Also announced the prefecture of Guadeloupe. “ Nearly 230,000 households are impacted by this outage », wrote a little earlier on X Olga Givernet, Minister Delegate in charge of Energy.
The operation to restore electricity is “ complex », Explained for her part Marie-Line Bassette, director of EDF Archipel Guadeloupe, on Guadeloupe La 1ère, assuring that this would be “ very progressive “.
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A strike following unpaid wages
The social movement, which has lasted since September 15, concerns the implementation of an agreement signed at the beginning of 2023, after two months of strike by the same agents, who demanded compliance of their contracts and their remuneration with the law. labor, including five years of unpaid salary arrears. It had since caused power cuts affecting up to around 100,000 homes.
Last Monday, the management of EDF PEI proposed the signing of an agreement which the CGT Guadeloupe energy federation refused, a final sticking point relating to the method of calculating paid leave.
Guadeloupe is a non-interconnected zone, which means that it must produce its own electricity to meet demand in the territory. Its electricity production depends almost 70% on thermal energy: fuel oil for EDF and wood pellets for the Albioma company which still ran on coal until July.
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