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3 engines at Power Plant1 operational, all six at PP2 down
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Posted on Jul 16 2008
Three of eight power engine units at Power Plant 1 in Lower Base are now operational, but all six power engines at Power Plant 2 are not working.
According to CUC’s power generation status report issued yesterday, engine units 3 and 8 at Power Plant 1 have been producing 5 megawatts each, while engine No. 6 has been contributing 5.2 MW. Engine No. 8 has been operational since April 14.
The status report, provided to Saipan Tribune by CUC executive director Antonio Muna, indicated that engine No. 2 was off line since last Monday at 4pm due to high water content in the turbocharger lube oil system.
Though the oil separator for unit No. 2 was put in operation at 11am Tuesday, the oil quality reportedly did not improve.
Engine No. 1 has been under maintenance since Nov. 12, 2006, while engine No. 5 has been down since April 12, 2008. Engine No. 7 is currently undergoing mechanical overhaul.
As for Power Plant 2 in Lower Base, all six engines are down.
Engine unit No. 1, which was producing 1.8 MW last month, is down due to an abnormal sound emanating from the turbocharger.
The report stated that engine No. 5 was also stopped at 3am Tuesday, also due to an abnormal sound from the turbocharger.
The four remaining engines at Power Plant 2 are awaiting ordered parts/maintenance.
As of yesterday, Power Plant 1 was producing 15.2 MW, while the privately operated Power Plant 4 was producing 14.4 MW, for a combined output of 29.6 MW.
The peak load on Saipan is 41 megawatts, leaving an 11.4-MW deficit in the power supply. This has forced CUC to resort to load shedding again.
As of June 2, only two power engines (No. 2 and 8) were operational, producing 13 MW. At Power Plant 2 only engine No. 1 was producing with 1.8MW, while Power Plant 4 had 13.5 MW.
In that June 2 period, the total output was 28.3 MW, resulting in a deficit of 12.7 MW.
Power Plant 2 engines were under rehabilitation by CISCO, while the DCM contract involved the rehabilitation of seven out of eight units at Power Plant 1. The CISCO contract has been suspended while the DCM contract was scrapped.
