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CUC inks $6M lease for generators
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Posted on Jun 23 2008
The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. has signed a $6-million contract to lease power generators from a global power rental company.
CUC will rent 15 units of one-megawatt power generators from Aggreko International. The move is seen to end the power outages on Saipan a little over a month from now.
The contract is for one year and it includes the generators, lube oil, personnel costs, and maintenance. The monthly rate is pegged at $504,000, for a total of $6 million a year. CUC will provide diesel to the company.
Aggreko will ship the generators once CUC makes a partial payment of $1.5 million. The shipment will come from the company’s office in Singapore, and is expected to take 26 days to arrive. An additional 10 days is needed to install the generators and place them on Saipan’s power grid.
“Our residents will experience no more load shedding and or brownouts,” said Rep. Victor Hocog, chairman of the House Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications.
But the rental generators will not immediately benefit major hotels and other businesses that are not on the CUC grid at this time. Hocog said CUC is projected to be able to supply power to those businesses within the next two or three months.
Press secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said Aggreko will provide urgently needed additional power generation capacity while the engines are being repaired.
“We are looking for the Legislature and the community to support CUC’s need for additional capacity to end the power outages, and we will comply with all procurement laws and regulations in bringing in additional power generation capacity from any firm capable of providing such capacity,” Reyes said.
