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Load shedding status remains questionable
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Posted on Sep 06 2005
The contractor hired to repair a 13-megawatt generator at the power plant has finished its job, but whether or not rolling blackouts will end is still uncertain.
Ivo Post, project manager of Man B&W Singapore Ltd., reported yesterday that the contracting firm was done installing 17 anchor bolts that would stop severe vibration on CUC’s generator.
“Engine No. 8 is done from our side. CUC is now doing their remaining completion and the engine should be up and running by tomorrow [Wednesday]. But that is out of my hands,” Post said in an email to the Saipan Tribune.
In an interview yesterday afternoon, press secretary Pete Callaghan said that CUC was running tests to put Engine No. 8 back to speed.
“If the testing proves successful, load shedding should end tomorrow [Wednesday],” said Callaghan. He insisted it was purely coincidental that the load shedding was going to end on Gov. Juan N. Babauta’s birthday.
Despite these assurances, however, CUC issued a notice that load shedding might still occur today.
“After several weeks of enduring pre-announced power outages, the utility hopes energizing Unit No. 8 Tuesday will lessen, if not completely end, the recent hardship of load-shedding,” CUC said in an advisory.
“Realizing, however, that emergency maintenance is required on any of the other 10-year-old engines, …the utility acts proactively to publish [a] load shedding schedule for Tuesday and Wednesday to be used only in dire need. Consumers are encouraged to keep it handy,” CUC added.
The utility firm also said that additional public notices would be provided if needed.
Two weeks ago, the governor promised that load shedding would end by Sept. 6, which was the target date for the completion of Engine No. 8’s repair.
Once back in service, the generator will provide an additional capacity of 10.5 megawatts to CUC. It will enable the utility to handle the community’s demand for electricity and end load shedding, which has resulted in rotating two-hour blackouts on Saipan since July 28.
Currently, CUC generates only 60 megawatts of power a day. This is 8 megawatts short of the demand during peak hours.
One megawatt feeds power to about 750 homes, or one large hotel.
