Aggreko generators arrive

Twelve of the 18 Aggreko generators have arrived on island and are undergoing tests at Lower Base in preparation for Sept. 12, when they will be turned on.

Their arrival comes as Commonwealth Utilities Corp. executive director Antonio Muña admits that CUC can no longer guarantee 24-hour power at the airport.

The new generators should be producing 15 megawatts—their full capacity— by Sept. 16 or 17 to supplement CUC’s expected 30 megawatts of power, Muña said. Two more shipments of generators should arrive by Sept. 12.

“There have been no hang ups. We don’t see any delays,” Aggreko site manager Wayne Lee said yesterday at Lower Base.

The generators, along with three transformers, arrived Monday from Singapore, where they underwent various tests. Tests were also conducted after they came off the manufacturing line in Scotland, Lee said.

The generators are self-contained, and Aggreko will mostly use their own equipment and manpower, Lee said. CUC will provide the fuel tank, with four Aggreko employees working each shift, supplemented by local labor.

Aggreko has also brought in four storage tanks, each holding 20,000 liters of diesel, in case of an emergency, Lee said.

“We won’t use them on a day to day basis,” he added. “We generally have the internal storage tank.”

Muña said he is confident the generators will withstand wear and tear.

“The way these are built, they’re built to operate in jungles and the desert,” he said.

“This is definitely one of the nicer places,” Lee added.

But until the generators are operational, the Aggreko workers have to deal with the same problems as the rest of the island, Lee said.

“We’ve been here the last few weeks, and we’re working without power ourselves,” he said.

The crew rented a generator to provide light at night, he added.

The 15 additional megawatts from the Aggreko generators, added to the 24 to 30 megawatts CUC is expected to produce, will give the island 39 to 45 megawatts on a daily basis, Muña said.

Approximately 41 megawatts are needed to sufficiently power the island. Currently, CUC is producing about 19 to 24 megawatts on a daily basis.

Muña said he anticipates Power Plant 4 to produce 14 megawatts, Power Plant 1 to produce 10 and Power Plant 2 to produce 6. Power Plant 4 has regularly produced 14 megawatts, but Power Plant 1 has produced as little as 5 megawatts in the last few weeks. Yesterday morning, Power Plant 1 was producing 8.5 megawatts with two engines running. Another engine was expected to be running by the end of the night, Gary Camacho, acting Power Division manager, said. Power Plant 2 was producing 1.5 megawatts yesterday morning, the first time an engine has been operational there since June.

“We’re happy to get engine 6 [at Power Plant 2] up,” Camacho said.

Crews hope to get three megawatts of power from Plant 2 by the end of the week, Camacho added.

Yesterday, Muña said he hopes to have four engines at Power Plant 1 up by next week.

Until then, Muña added, outages will continue to be a problem for all areas, including the airport, which experienced a power outage for about an hour Sunday.

“It’s unavoidable,” Muna said. “It’s a balancing act. Essentially, that’s what we’re faced with.”

The airport first experienced a power problem Aug. 21, when two outbound flights were delayed during a three-hour outage. The airport’s two backup generators went down several months ago, and they will not be fixed until November or December.

Muña said CUC continues to try their best to provide 24-hour power so inbound and outbound flights won’t be delayed.

“We continue to be focused to get power as best we can,” he said. “Obviously, with one engine it presents some challenges.”

CUC officials extended assistance to the Commonwealth Ports Authority director, offering an engine from Power Plant 2, but it was unsuccessful, Muña said.