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PP1 back to two engines after blackout
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Posted on Sep 06 2008
Power Plant 1 was back to producing 8.5 megawatts of power yesterday afternoon, after an engine tripped and caused a 45-minute island blackout Friday.
Engines 8 and 6 were working at Power Plant 1, with engine 3, producing 5 megawatts, expected to turn on later in the evening. With all three engines up and the engines from Power Plant 4 running, the island would have a total of approximately 27 megawatts of power by the end of the evening, said Gary Camacho, CUC Power Division manager. Approximately 41 megawatts are needed to sufficiently power the island.
On Friday, engine 8 automatically tripped and turned itself off after the cooling water and temperature exceeded normal levels.
“At that point in time, the island demand could not be met, and then of course, the rest of the units experienced low frequency and they just automatically shut off,” he said. “Each and every one just started to shut off to protect itself.”
If CUC is able to get three engines at Power Plant 1 operational, a revised load shedding schedule will go into affect with shorter outages for each area, Camacho said. Under the current schedule, each area is experiencing three-hour outages three times in a 24-hour period.
The third of four shipments of Aggreko generators is expected to arrive this weekend. Twelve of the 18 generators have arrived, and are undergoing tests to make sure they are ready to be turned on Sept. 12. They should provide their full 15 megawatts of power by Sept. 16 or 17.
