The Aggreko generators give the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. breathing room, but long-term decisions must be agreed upon in order to provide reliable power, Office of Insular Affairs Nikolao Pula said yesterday as he toured the Aggreko generators site. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want to prolong decisions,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we want to be transparent and not repeat the problems in the future. I don\u2019t want to point fingers. Right now we need to focus on the power.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs far as my coming here, I\u2019m looking forward to discussing options on where to move forward,\u201d added Pula, whose department administers several grants for the Commonwealth and other U.S. insular areas. <\/p>\n
He said it\u2019s important to remember the Aggreko generators, adding 15 megawatts of power to the island, are only contracted for 12 months. CUC can opt to add six more months to the contract. <\/p>\n
Navy engineers from Guam are scheduled to assess the power plants today and see which engines can be rehabilitated, Pula said. Once their data is complete, \u201cwe have to sit down and discuss,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
Engineers from Guam were chosen to assess the situation because it was cheaper than bringing in engineers from other locations. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not free,\u201d he said, adding that limited money and resources continue to be a struggle for CUC. Reprogramming capital improvement money might be necessary, he said. <\/p>\n
When asked if he thinks CUC\u2019s budget can cover the necessary improvements to the power plants, Pula said he did not know until experts, whom he said he is willing to bring to the CNMI, examined the conditions of the plants. <\/p>\n
\u201cBottom line, you\u2019ve got to look at where you stand. Once you do that you can go from there,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
CUC executive director Antonio Mu\u00f1a earlier estimated the rehabilitation of engines 5 and 7 at Power Plant 1 to cost $2 million to $4 million. <\/p>\n
During yesterday\u2019s tour, CUC and Aggreko officials and crewmembers, including Mu\u00f1a, CUC managing engineer Venugopal Prabhakara and Aggreko commissioning engineer Roberto Rasalan, explained the safety precautions and working details of the generators. <\/p>\n
Pula said it is important to have proper security on site for the equipment and for people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m more worried about someone coming in and not knowing what they\u2019re doing,\u201d Pula said. \u201cThis is millions of dollars worth of equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rasalan said there is 24-hour security on the site as well as a fence surrounding the lot. <\/p>\n
Pula said he was impressed with Aggreko\u2019s quick response to the power crisis. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt looks pretty good, to the extent the units got here,\u201d he added. \u201cI think everybody appreciates that. I\u2019m impressed with how clean the systems are. The fuel system is small and contained.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day Pula and Muna met with Gov. Benigno Fitial and other lawmakers, including Senate President Pete Reyes and House of Representatives Speaker Arnold Palacious. Guam Gov. Felix P. Camacho also took part in a conference call where geothermal energy was discussed.<\/p>\n
Charles Reyes, press secretary for the Governor\u2019s Office, said the meeting was productive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe parties were primarily discussing the CUC crisis and challenges, and the plan for a long-term solution,\u201d he said. \u201cMr. Pula emphasized a plan to work together and push aside political problems.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Aggreko generators give the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. breathing room, but long-term decisions must be agreed upon in order to provide reliable power, Office of Insular Affairs Nikolao Pula said yesterday as he toured the Aggreko generators site. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126497\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}