Power outages hit Saipan in past 3 days

An old transformer, a broken power pole’s cross arm, cylinder problems, and engine overheating caused power outages in different villages on Saipan over the last three days, Saipan Tribune learned.

Power outages occurred on Saturday for 12 hours in the Agag area. On the same day, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s implemented emergency load shedding that affected many villages.

On Sunday, there was a power outage that lasted for one hour in Kagman.

Yesterday, another power outage affected Garapan, Tanapag, and San Roque for less than an hour.

CUC spokesperson Pamela Mathis said an old transformer blew out at the Agag well site on Saturday early morning.

Mathis said this caused power outage in an isolated area of Agag, but the CUC’s power distribution crew fixed it at 5:30pm that same day.

She explained that after so many years of service, a transformer dies, making a loud sound when its seal blows up.

Also on Saturday, CUC conducted repairs on engine no. 8, a 13-megawatt engine at Power Plant 1 in Lower Base. As a result, CUC implemented load shedding starting from 2pm until 10pm that day.

From 2pm to 4pm, affected areas included the Lower Base, Capitol Hill, As Teo, and Kagman. From 4pm to 6pm affected were As Lito, Koblerville, San Antonio, Afetnas, Chalan Piao, Fina Sisu, Chalan Kanoa, and As Perdido.

From 6pm to 8pm, load shedding affected Lower Base, Tanapag, San Roque, As Matuis, and Marpi.

From 8pm to 10pm, areas affected were Gualo Rai, Chalan Laulau, As Falipe, and part of China Town.

Mathis said the preventive maintenance crew saw that there was a problem with one of the cylinders on the engine.

“And that is what led them to diagnose the problems and call for the emergency load shedding so that they could take the engine off line and make the repairs. They did have parts in the power plant and they were able to make the repairs,” she said.

Mathis said the crew first thought it would take them two days to complete the repairs.

“Not only did they complete [work] on Saturday, but they also were able to do it half the time,” she said.

Mathis said that on Sunday the power distribution crew fixed a broken cross arm of a power pole in Kagman. After the cross arm was replaced, power in the Kagman area resumed.

With respect to yesterday’s case, CUC deputy executive director Patrick Leon Guerrero said one of the larger engine experienced overheating; this led to a power outage in Garapan, Tanapag, and San Roque for about 40 minutes.

Leon Guerrero said they added the load back after the temperature of the engine dropped.