Muña: More engineers, mechanics crucial for CUC

Hiring more engineers and mechanics will be critical to the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. goal to rehabilitate the engines at Power Plant 1 and end the use of the emergency Aggreko generators in September.

At the unveiling of two rehabilitated engines last week, CUC executive director Antonio Muña said the utility agency needs five or six more mechanics and engineers to continue with the PP1 rehabilitation effort.

“We’re looking at the amount of overtime hours for the folks, and they’ve been really dedicated to see this thing through,” he said of the rehabilitation of engines 3 and 7. “But these are 12 hour days, sometimes 16 hour days. And you can only go so far on that.”

There are still five more engines that need to be rehabilitated, and with a tired workforce it makes it that much harder, Muña said.

The rehabilitation of the two engines is one of the first steps the utility agency expects to take as it prepares for September, when the one-year contract for the emergency Aggreko generators concludes. Under the $6 million contract, CUC has been renting 15 megawatts of power from Aggreko, ending the blackouts that had been plaguing the island for several months prior.

CUC must inform Aggreko by June whether it opts to extend the contract for another six months. Muña has repeatedly said CUC will not need to extend the contract.

Last week he said engine 2 is expected to be up and running by April 30 and engine 1 by May 31.

By June, Muña said CUC’s Power Plant 1 would produce approximately 40 megawatts of power.

Gov. Benigno Fitial listed the need for additional manpower as one of his reasons for continuing the state of disaster emergency for CUC. In the latest emergency order dated March 31, Fitial said eight more mechanics and eight more operators are needed to run the equipment. However, there is a shortage of such U.S. professionals who have experience with CUC’s equipment. Public Law 16-14 capped the number of foreign-national professionals CUC could hire at the present 19. The order stated CUC plans to ask the Legislature for relief from the statute.

Muña said he appreciates the professionals who have been working at the utility agency.

“They’ve been through a lot,” he said. “I really want to commend them for that. You know you try to work in a very harsh environment, when you stick around, that’s an admirable quality. My hat is off to them.”