Marianas Variety

CUC issues statement on islandwide power outage

COMMONWEALTH Utilities Corp. Executive Director Gary Camacho issued the following statement at 6:17 p.m., Saturday:

"Saturday, June 24th Power Plant No. 1 was operating normally until 2:35 a.m., when generator No. 5 suffered a failure caused by an oil splash monitoring system which was recently installed as part of an upgrade by the engine manufacturer. Subsequently, a generator overcurrent fault occurred, causing an automatic trip and ultimately an island-wide power outage as the protective breakers opened on all operating engines causing low voltage, de-energizing the entire power plant.

"The power system was secured and the assessment process was initiated. Once that was completed, restoration of the island power supply began. However, there were some technical problems starting with a station service generator. Once those repairs were completed, the restoration of the Feeders began with Feeder No. 3, 2, 7, 1 and Kiya No. 1, 2, and 3 throughout the day. Furthermore, the electrical problems on Station Service No. 1 and No. 2 supporting engines 1 through 4 could not be turned on. Therefore, the Power Plant did not have adequate generating capacity to finalize the restoration of Kiya No. 4 and 2nd partial of Feeder No. 2. As a result, CUC coordinated with Fiesta Resorts, Hyatt Regency, TGalleria and Grandvrio Resort to self-generate until the engines were online and also implemented load shedding. At 4:15 p.m., repairs were completed and the engines were put online and Feeder No. 7 and Kiya No. 4 were reenergized and the island power fully restored.

"Due to the loss of island power, the water supply was impacted and CUC Water Division expects water services to be fully restored by 1 a.m. Throughout the day, the Deputy Executive Director, William Gilmore and Victor Flores, Plant Operations Supervisor, had been updating the CUC call Center, Facebook, automated outage messaging system, and the Radio station, KKMP, of the restoration process status. CUC had also been communicating with the vendor who installed the oil splash monitoring system that caused the initial incident at the power plant to discuss and analyze the problem of the fault.

"Moving forward as per our protocol, management and staff of Power Generation will do a complete review and assessment of the cause of the incident and review issues of its operational procedures and electrical system to mitigate future problems."

'Power should be on before end of the day'

REPRESENTATIVE Edwin Propst on Saturday afternoon said the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. power generator is experiencing some technical problems which caused an islandwide power outage. But he said engines 3 and 4 will be up soon and power should be on before the end of the day, Saturday.

Propst said he has spoken to CUC Executive Director Gary Camacho, adding that CUC will release an official statement "soon." The power outage started at past 2 a.m., Saturday. As of past 3 p.m., Chalan Kiya, Susupe, Oleai-San Jose and some areas in Garapan still had no power. Propst said CUC is continuously working to fix the problem which, he added, has something to do with a breaker and an oil splash guard. More details to follow.

Fiery crash kills 19-year-old driver

SOOMIN Jung, a 19-year-old student of Northern Marianas College, died after her vehicle slammed into a traffic pole at around midnight Saturday, according to Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services spokesman Derek Gersonde.

Based on initial investigation and witnesses, he said the vehicle was headed up As Terlaje Hill when it hit the traffic pole and burst into flames with Jung trapped inside. She was on her way home when the incident happened.

Gersonde said firefighters managed to control the blaze at 1:10 a.m. The victim was transported to the Commonwealth Health Center where she was pronounced dead at 3:35 a.m. by Doctor Schenker.

Islandwide power outage; still no official word from CUC, government

A POWER outage struck the entire island of Saipan  at past 2 a.m., Saturday, yet over 12 hours later neither the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. nor the central government has issued an official statement.

At 11 a.m., Saturday, Gary Sword of  KKMP radio station, citing sources from CUC,  told his listeners that engine 1 of Power Plant 1 had malfunctioned and was shut down to prevent damage to the system. He said  this caused the other engines to overload and to shut down, resulting in an islandwide blackout. Power was eventually restored in some areas of the island. As of 2:33 p.m. Saturday, it is still not known if the entire island has power already. More details to follow.

MVA hosts 5 major Chinese media outlets

(MVA) — Five mainstream media outlets covering Southern China recently visited the Marianas to capture scenic sites and memorable experiences in Saipan and Tinian to share with their audience.

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Lawmakers discuss bill to establish reciprocity agreement for Guam and NMI drivers license holders

(Press Release) — CNMI Rep. Ivan A. Blanco and Guam Sens. Wil Castro, Tommy Morrison, Joe S. San Agustin and Dennis Rodriguez Jr., are finalizing and intend to introduce mirror legislation to extend non-commercial drivers license reciprocity to residents of the CNMI and Guam.

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