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CUC: One more engine to go online
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Posted on Sep 09 2005
The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. expects one more power generator to be fixed by the third week of October, but estimates the third one to take over a year to be completed.
CUC executive director Lorraine Babauta said Engine No. 3 would be back in service by Oct. 14, 2005. Shut down due to crankpin seizure, the 7.3-megawatt generator has been undergoing repair since the second half of August 2005.
Although experiencing the same problem, Engine No. 4 will take longer to repair because of the extent of the damage, Babauta said.
Man B&W (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., the contractor hired by CUC to perform the engine repairs at Power Plant, estimated that it would take six to eight months for spare parts to be manufactured and delivered to Saipan, she added.
The target date for completion of Engine No. 4’s repair is May 6, 2006. This engine also has a power generation capacity of 7.3 megawatts.
The repair of Engine No. 3 is estimated to cost $400,000 to $600,000, while Engine No. 4 is projected to require $500,000 to $550,000.
A report prepared by Man B&W showed that the repair of the engines involved machining crackpins, flushing the engines, checking the bearings, and cleaning the auxiliary system, among several others.
On Monday, Sept. 5, Man B&W finished fixing the 13-megawatt Engine No. 8, which now provides additional power generation capacity to CUC and enabled the utility to end load shedding.
Babauta said that CUC was also planning on performing maintenance on the five other generators at Power Plant 1.
CUC disclosed that maintenance on Engine No. 1 had been overdue for over four years; Engine Nos. 5 and 6 for one year and four months; and Engine Nos. 2 and 7 for over five months.
