Previous Story
Islandwide power outage hits Saipan
|
Posted on Sep 29 2005
An islandwide power outage that lasted about an hour occurred on Saipan yesterday due to an overheating engine 7 at Power Plant 1.
The power failure occurred just as Commonwealth Utilities Corp. officials, led by executive director Lorraine A. Babauta, were at the House of Representatives to attend a 2pm session. As a result, the session was delayed for an hour or until the power was restored.
CUC power plant manager Al Santos said engine 7 went down at 1:53pm yesterday, causing other engines in the plant to trip off automatically.
“Engine 7 is carrying 10.7MW. It’s a big engine. There’s a ripple effect that caused other units to auto trip, affecting the whole island, but we restored it as quickly as possible,” said Santos.
He said all the feeders were back online at 3:15pm.
Santos said CUC currently generates 66MW.
Last Monday and Sunday, power outages also hit some parts of the islands due to the combination of “outside problem” and the breakdown of engine 3 at Power Plant 4.
The power went off twice Monday affecting mostly the Beach Road Garapan area up to Microl.
The power outage, which occurred at 8:25am to about 9:24am, came after a commercial banner or signage hit a primary line near the Horiguchi area, CUC said. The second power interruption, which began at 2:05pm and lasted for over an hour, was caused by the breakdown of unit 3 at Power Plant 4. The engine was fixed on the same day.
On Sunday afternoon, power also briefly went off twice in Garapan and Lower Base areas due to an outside factor, CUC said.
CUC said that unannounced power outages will occur until there is enough reserve power on Saipan. CUC hopes to have a power reserve of at least 10MW when engine 4 at Power Plant 1 gets repaired.
The utility firm said that the engine requires a new crankshaft, which takes 10 months to manufacture, ship, and install.
