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Another islandwide outage
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Posted on Jun 20 2008
A problem in one of the power engines at Power Plant 1 in Lower Base plunged the entire island of Saipan into darkness Thursday night, just two days after over 200 people vented their frustrations with the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. at a public forum.
The islandwide outage began at 7pm just as CUC was implementing its regular 8am to 10pm rolling outage schedule.
Although some areas got back their electric power Thursday at 10pm, many people had a sleepless night as CUC managed to completely restore power only yesterday at 7am.
CUC acting power division manager Gary P. Camacho said that on Thursday at 7pm, an electrical fault on the jacket cooling water motor occurred, causing Engine No. 6 and Station Service no. 3 in Power Plant 1 to automatically trip.
As the power plant crew attempted to balance the power load, the remaining station services also tripped, Camacho said.
This immediate loss of power generation in Power Plant 1 overloaded the Power Plant 4 engines in Puerto Rico, causing the breakers at Power Plant 4 to open, resulting in the islandwide blackout.
Camacho said the restoration process began with the first partial of Feeder 3 or the Middle Road area from Power Plant 4, which back feeds into the main Power Plant 1. He said it was not until 10pm that the first feeder on Middle Road was energized.
Engine No. 6 at Power Plant 1 was only brought back online at 6:18am yesterday.
In addition, Camacho said, the controls of Engine No. 3 in Power Plant 1 had electrical and mechanical malfunctions that required immediate replacement.
“It was brought online this morning [Friday] at 7am, which provided the additional generation required to complete the restoration process,” he added.
Some restaurants with generators were seen filled with customers as families and workers had no time to cook. Also, the humid temperature and uncomfortable heat inside their houses drove families to flock to establishments with power.
Last May 29, overheated engines in Power Plant 1 also triggered an islandwide outage on the island. On Jan. 28, delays in fuel delivery at two power plants triggered sudden rotating outages throughout the island.
