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More power outages to come
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Posted on Jul 25 2005
More power outages are expected to hit various Saipan villages due to reduction in the power generated by an engine at the Lower Base power plant.
The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. issued yesterday a load-shedding schedule that would result in two-hour outages at all but three power feeders. The schedule takes effect immediately but CUC did not indicate as to how long the load-shedding will be in effect.
CUC said the outages were caused by low power generation by Engine No. 4 at Power Plant 1. The 25-year-old engine, which has a capacity of 7.5 megawatts, is currently generating only 6 megawatts.
According to the load-shedding schedule, the Middle Road areas covered by the second partial of Feeder No. 3 will be the first to experience power outage, from 11am to 1pm.
Lights will go out at the second partial of Kiya No. 2 from 1pm to 3pm. Kiya 2 villages include Dandan through As Lito Road, as well as Chalan Piao to San Antonio.
Next on the schedule are the villages covered by the second partial of Feeder No. 4, which include Sadog Tasi and Capitol Hill down to As Teo, Kagman, and portions of Papago. Power outage can be expected at these areas from 3pm to 5pm.
Kiya No. 4 villages, which include San Jose, Susupe, and Chalan Kanoa, will have to do without electricity from 7pm to 9pm. CUC said the whole load under this feeder would be offline if the second partial could not carry the demand.
Depending on need, Feeder No. 2 may also be turned offline from 9pm to 11pm. The affected areas include the Garapan business district down to the San Jose stop light on Beach Road.
The Lower Base power plant has eight engines, four of which were installed in 1979 through 1980. The first four engines run on gas oil and have a generation capacity of 7.5 megawatts each.
From 1989 through 1990, two heavy fuel generators were installed. Each has a 13-megawatt generation capacity.
Two more 13-megawatt generators were installed in 1992, both run on heavy fuel.
