Start of classes seen to worsen the power crisis

The rolling blackouts on Saipan are expected to worsen as classes open tomorrow, aggravating the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s current difficulty in accommodating the power demand of the community.

CUC power generation manager Almondo Santos said yesterday that the utility would be making changes anew to its load shedding schedule in view of Wednesday’s school opening, which was expected to increase demand for electricity.

Santos said CUC would be looking at some areas presently unaffected by the power outages and see if they could be taken offline to prevent power disruption at the schools.

Yesterday, most Saipan areas again experienced blackouts as a result of reduced power generation by two engines at the Lower Base power plant.

According to Santos, Engine No. 3 started having mechanical problems on Sunday night. Although the 25-year-old engine has an original capacity of 7.5 megawatt, it could generate only 6 megawatts at present.

CUC has been having the same problem with Engine No. 4 for almost two weeks now. The fourth generator, also purchased in 1980, has a capacity of 7.5 megawatts, but can produce only 6 megawatts at the moment.

Since Engine No. 8 has not been operational for several months now, only five of the eight engines at the Lower Base power plant are now working. These five engines generate a combined power of 43 megawatts, down by almost half from its supposed capacity.

Yesterday’s outages started at 8:50am and ended at 10:50pm, affecting different villages every two hours.

Santos attributed the mechanical troubles to the engines’ age and lack of regular maintenance.

“We at the power generation division are trying to resolve these problems as soon as possible. But as you already know, getting the spare parts is not that easy,” he said.

Santos urged the business sector, particularly the hotels and the garment manufacturing industry, to remain patient and assist by generating their own power in the meantime.

“Please bear with us and continue to self-generate,” he said.

Lynn Knight, president of the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands, said in a recent interview that, while some hotels were using their own generators, the majority are using CUC power.

She added that every hotel has its own generator; but in many cases, the equipment was designed for backup, not for full-time use.

However, because CUC did not have the capacity to handle the community’s entire demand, most hotels have to resort to using their own equipment full-time.