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Lack of fuel triggers outages
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Posted on Apr 14 2008
A lack of fuel at Power Plant 4 in Puerto Rico triggered outages in many areas on Saipan yesterday, beginning as early as 3:02am.
Mobil only started delivery of part of the 80,000 gallons of fuel yesterday morning, Saipan Tribune learned.
CUC Power Division acting manager Gary P. Camacho told Saipan Tribune that the 80,000 gallons of fuel (worth $296,000) would last only three and a half to four days.
Camacho said the daily consumption at Power Plant 4 had increased since Thursday due to the additional production it is providing to compensate for the engines being repaired at Power Plant 1 in Lower Base.
“A CUC official was informed on Sunday morning of the fuel situation at the Power Plant 4. However, Mobil could not deliver additional fuel until Monday morning [yesterday],” he said.
In addition, the acting manager said, an electrical problem occurred on Engine No. 8 at Power Plant 1 at 7:20am but this was soon repaired.
This is not the first time that CUC ran out of fuel for its power engines. On Jan. 28 this year, CUC was forced to implement outages after a delay in the delivery of fuel.
Yesterday’s outage began at 3:02am at Feeder 7, affecting areas from Lower Base to Tanapag, Achugao, San Roque, As Matuis, and Marpi.
At 4:04am, an outage occurred at Feeder 2, affecting Beach Road Garapan from the Kristo Rai Church south to the San Jose intersection.
Many other areas experienced outages as other feeders also tripped. Some feeders got partial online.
Camacho said that power was restored to all areas after lunch, with the exception of Susupe and Chalan Kanoa areas.
“We do our best. All the CUC personnel are working as diligently as possible to minimize the frequency of power outages and reduce the time that the interruptions occur,” he emphasized.
