More power seen from Power Plant 1 this Sept.

Although currently behind a schedule presented to the Office of Insular Affairs for additional funding, Commonwealth Utilities Corp. executive director Antonio Muña says he expects to have more available power by September than originally planned.

In November, when Gov. Benigno Fitial requested $3.8 million in federal funds to repair power plant 1, CUC provided a month-by-month timeline. At the time, power plant 1 was producing 8.5 megawatts. By the end of December 2008 the plant was expected to produce 12.5 megawatts, and increase again to 22.5 megawatts by the end of March.

Power plant 1 is only producing 8 .5 to 9 megawatts right now, but Muña said the utility agency expects to bring online two more engines by the end of the month, for an additional 15 megawatts.

“Right now, as of this point in time, we have 8.5 to 9 megawatts available at engines 6 and 8. By the end of the month, we expect another 15 [megawatts] with engines 7 and 3, so that’ll bring us up to about 23 and change,” Muña said.

CUC has been renting emergency generators since September 2008 from Aggreko International for $504,000 per month. It was announced earlier this month that CUC would not opt for a six-month extension to the contract; instead, Muña said he projects to have as much as 53 megawatts of power from power plant 1 by September. Peak demand for the island is approximately 41 megawatts.

The revised timeline differs from the earlier OIA guide because it switches when some of the engine will undergo maintenance overhauls. The OIA timeline only expected 38.5 megawatts would be available by September. The maximum capacity for power plant 1 is 81.2 megawatts.

Each of the eight engines at power plant 1 have run at least 10,000 hours over the recommended maintenance plan. As of this month, engine 1 is in most need of an overhaul. It has run 61,019 over the advised timeframe for an overhaul. If it ran continuously for 24 hours a day, it would be nearly seven years past the recommended limit. However, the engine has been under maintenance since November 2006.

Engine 8, which recorded the lowest number of hours in excess, has run 10,276 hours, or, if ran continuously, it is more than a year overdue for a major overhaul. The engine is one of two currently operational at the power plant. The other running engine-engine 6-is 48,394 hours over the guideline. That calculates to 5.5 years.

The numbers were listed in the utility agency’s stimulus grant fund application. Under funds provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, CUC is seeking $36 million to purchase three new engines producing seven megawatts each.