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CUC identifies cause of power plant explosion
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Posted on Sep 04 2004
The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. has advised the public of a scheduled power outage affecting certain areas on Saipan between 5am and 9am today.
Pamela Mathis, CUC special adviser for corporate communications, said the corporation’s power division has scheduled the power outage after identifying the problem that caused an explosion at the Lower Base power plant at around 6:30am Wednesday. The explosion, in turn, resulted in an island-wide power outage on Saipan.
She said the problem was found in a circuit breaker station that carries electricity to two CUC feeders. Due to the extreme danger in working on energized engines, a power outage is necessary to ensure the safety of the CUC crew.
Areas to be affected by today’s scheduled outage are those generating power from feeders 4 and 7. Feeder 4 covers Sadog Tasi, Capitol Hill, 1200 Block Homestead, 1300 Block Homestead, Governor’s Office, Legislature, Wireless, Kingfisher, I-Denni, As Teo, and a portion of Papago.
Feeder 7 covers Lower Base, Tanapag, Achugao, San Roque, As Matuis, and Marpi.
“CUC will turn power back at about 9am, or as soon as we finish,” Mathis said. “When this is done, we will also have all 7.5 megawatts available from engine 4.”
The explosion at the CUC main power plant at Lower Base occurred at 6:25am Wednesday, as Typhoon Songda moved close to the Northern Islands, creating storm condition on Saipan and Tinian.
Emergency Operation Center public information officer Jenn Castro said the explosion caused an automatic power trip-off for power feeder lines covering Lower Base, Sadog Tasi, Kagman, Achugao, San Roque, As Matuis, Marpi and Capitol Hill—including the Governor’s Office and the Legislature.
“As a result of the explosion, the two feeders automatically shut off,” Castro said, adding that CUC had to shut down power supply on the entire island. CUC immediately restored power back to portions of the island. By noontime, power supply has been completely restored to pre-Songda levels.
