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‘Load shedding the result of overworked engines at CUC’
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Posted on May 20 2006
Administration officials said rotating power outages would continue due to overheating and broken engines at its main power plant, Power Plant I, in Lower Base.
Commonwealth Utilities Corp. acting executive director Tony Guerrero said during Friday’s news briefing at the Governor’s Office that overheating is also caused by a malfunctioning cooling system.
Guerrero also disclosed that the plant’s newly repaired engine 8 is broken again, leaving only six engines to work round the clock.
Engine 4 has remained down since last year due to a broken crankshaft.
The government has a pending contract for the procurement and installation of these parts.
Guerrero said Engine 8’s newly installed bolts are faulty.
The previous leadership of CUC had paid the contractor, Singapore-based Man B&W Diesel, some $400,000 for the installation of about 690 foundation bolts.
“The government spent quite a huge amount of money there, but it turned out to be a failure,” said Lt. Gov. Tim P. Villagomez, who has emergency control of CUC.
He said the old contractor is being requested to repair its work.
Villagomez said the administration is proceeding with the repair of Power Plant II engines to generate an additional 10MW.
This plant had been fixed during the previous administration, resulting in the generation of some 4MW. By design, though, Power Plant 2 has a capacity of 15MW.
Villagomez said he hopes to get a contractor to do the repair on the engines by next week.
“We just don’t have enough reserve. That’s the reason why we’re experiencing outages,” said Guerrero.
He said Power Plant I is currently generating 53MW. By design, the power plant can generate up to 81MW.
Saipan consumes some 60 to 65MW daily.
$40M BOND
Villagomez said the dire situation at the power plant necessitates the issuance of a $40-million revenue bond from the NMI Retirement Fund.
“It’s why the $40 million bond is important. A lot of this money would go toward this repair,” he said.
The bond proposal is embodied in the administration-proposed legislative measure, the Defined Benefit Rescue and Reform Act of 2006, which also asks the Fund to write off $124 million “uncollectibles” or unfunded liability.
