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‘Power plants can outlive 20-year contract’
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Posted on Jul 21 2005
Although the existing power plants on Saipan are considered old and poorly maintained, the government’s consultant believes that they would still be running 20 years or more from now.
“Most of them are operable. It should last longer than that [20 years],” said Harris Group vice president Dennis Swann, who is the power privatization consultant of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.
CUC is inclined to soon award a 20-year contract to a private company for power generation on Saipan. The contract involves the takeover of the eight-engine Power Plant I in Lower Base, its rehabilitation and upgrade to meet environmental standards, and installation of two new 15 megawatt generators.
Swann said most machines run for 40 years.
Power Plant I consists of four “old” engines or those installed in the late ’70s and four newer generators that were installed in the ’80s.
Swann said these engines “have not surpassed their life span.”
“I think they should last beyond the life of this contract. There may be a couple that won’t make it but most of them would make it,” he said.
He noted, though, that the existing machines would be less 15 percent less efficient than the two new 15 megawatt engines to be installed as part of the privatization contract.
Swann also said that the power plants would generate sufficient energy to meet the demand of Saipan 20 years from now.
In the last four years, he said, Saipan’s power consumption has been flat at 360 megawatts a year. By 2025, he said that the consumption would be about 400 megawatts. This takes into consideration the population and industry growth.
Under a “worst case scenario,” which could mean the shutdown of the garment industry, the consumption is estimated to be at 280 megawatts.
Swann said there is a possibility of adding one 15-megawatt engine if more power is needed in the future. Right now, Saipan consumes around 68 megawatts during peak hours on a daily basis.
