CUC keeping up with pace of change

The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. is aware that the CNMI is rapidly developing and a plan to keep up with the change has become increasingly important as the demand for power, water, and wastewater management in the Commonwealth exponentially grows.

CUC deputy executive director William Gilmore said that CUC is very serious in meeting the demands and expectations of the developing community.

“It does take time to do that so we are going to be looking at very seriously over the next six months to determine what is the best approach,” he said.

“We are looking at the power requirements. We are very concerned about getting too far ahead but we do know we need to build more reserve capacity that gives us more flexibility to respond,” Gilmore added

Reserve capacity is the generating capacity available to the system operator within a short interval to meet the demand in case a generator goes down or there is another disruption to the supply.

“Essentially, having a reserve capacity of 20 MW over normal operating demand of 40 MW (total of 60 MW) allows CUC to handle a peak demand requirement of 6 to 10 MW that suddenly comes on line leaving 14 to 10 MW of remaining reserve capacity,” Gilmore said

“It’s actually a buffer that gives CUC flexibility to respond to any excess demand requirement,” he added

Gilmore said building CUC’s reserve capacity will ensure that they can capture more of that power demand. He hopes that decisions will be made on what they may try to do.

In just two years, major real estate developments have been built and currently two hotel and resort constructions are in the works or starting soon in the northern part of Saipan.

Gilmore said if new establishments and developments like hotels and resorts would open within the year and asks CUC for power requirements, they would not be able to deliver.

“Right now, it all depends in what the power demands are. We have to analyze every particular case. If you are small project maybe a mega watt or 2, we probably can handle you,” Gilmore said

He added, “However if you go much beyond that, immediately, probably not. What we would most likely suggest is you have back-up power built.”

Gilmore said that in terms of water and wastewater, it all depends on the requirement.

“If you are a low consumer of water, most likely we can probably supply you but again with potable water. If they don’t have access to fresh water, they may need an R.O. system or work out a supply with one of the private companies for that. Wastewater we can probably handle that. It should not be a problem,” he added

Earlier this month, the CNMI Zoning Board granted conditional permit to American Sinopan LLC so it could begin building its proposed $144.3-million hotel in Tanapag.

Gilmore said, “If they were to ask us for power requirements within the year, I would say no we would not be able to. In terms of water, they are already planning of putting in their own R.O. system to meet their water demands and they are also having their own backup power. They showed 8 megawatts but I heard it may not be that big. Sewer we have the capacity to support them immediately,” he added

“But in two years, 2020 or so, CUC would have the capacity to support new establishments,” said Gilmore.