CUC board OKs another Aggreko contract extension
The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. board of directors has approved CUC management’s recommendation to extend again the contract with mobile modular power supplier Aggreko for one year.
Acting CUC executive director Betty G. Terlaje said in an interview with Saipan Tribune last Tuesday that the board approved during their monthly meeting last Thursday the contract extension for Aggreko, which will cost CUC about $3 million.
“We renewed it for one year because our Engine No. 4 is still being put together. We need the capacity,” Terlaje said.
She said power Engine No. 3 is still down and Engine No. 3 1 is needing overhaul.
The acting executive director said, basically with the large engines being down, they need to retain Aggreko so that they have sufficient capacity and for reserve to support the community’s demand.
Terlaje said having Aggreko would actually help CUC because the other power engines that they have in Power Plant 4 and Power Plant 2 are less efficient than the engines that Aggreko provides.
Aggreko’s extended one-year contract is expiring this month, May.
The power purchase agreement with Aggreko started in 2019, with CUC paying the independent power supplier a fixed monthly cost of $302,400, according to the transition report.
The original contract with Aggreko was to provide temporary power for 90 days while CUC’s generator engines were being overhauled and repaired. The contract was then extended several times.
The Aggreko mobile modular power plants in Lower Base.
-FERDIE DE LA TORRE
Betty G. Terlaje
