HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The temporary power contract with Aggreko wasn’t on the agenda for the Public Utilities Commission to address last week, but the commission was still waiting on the Guam Power Authority to submit a petition regarding that contract, according to PUC Chairman Jeffrey Johnson.
“We can’t move on it until we receive the petition,” he said Monday.
GPA is trying to onboard temporary generation as part of plans to mitigate load shedding before the summer months arrive and to bridge capacity needs until the 198-megawatt power plant in Ukudu is commissioned in late 2025.
The Consolidated Commission on Utilities, the governing board for the power utility, approved a $25 million contract with Aggreko on Jan. 23. The company will have 100 days to deliver the temporary power.
There was some discussion on Jan. 23 about wanting to get the contract before the PUC in time for final approval last week, as the contract could then be awarded the following week, and delivery of the temporary power could happen by March or April.
The PUC won’t hold a regular meeting again until the last Thursday of February, but for time-sensitive matters, the chairman could approve issues ahead of time and PUC commissioners could ratify the approval later, according to Johnson, who said that procedure had been done several times before on various matters.
“We kind of just do a polling of the commissioners, see how people feel. And if it’s something everybody’s online with, we do that. Now, the problem with that is I’m going to be off island for a couple (of) weeks in February visiting the grandkids. If that’s the case, and the commission wants to speed it up, we’ll probably have vice chairman Peter Montinola authorize it, And then we’ll take care of it on the February meeting and uphold it then,” Johnson said Monday.
GPA is working to procure temporary power through the emergency procurement process. The utility told The Guam Daily Post on Tuesday that it is “nearly ready” to send its petition to the PUC.
Bill 206-37, introduced by Sen. William Parkinson late last year, intends to waive certain procurement requirements to facilitate the speedy procurement of temporary power. The measure has not yet seen a public hearing.
When asked if a hearing date has been scheduled, Parkinson told the Post on Monday that Bill 206 was referred to the legislative committee on procurement, headed by Sen. Sabina Perez, but it still does not have a hearing date.
“I have requested for her to hold a hearing as soon as possible for this bill, which has been in her committee for months,” Parkinson said.
The senator added that he had not spoken with GPA if the need for the bill has changed, but the power utility told the Post on Tuesday that Bill 206 is still necessary as the temporary power procurement is ongoing.
“Fortunately, so far, the procurement has not experienced resistance,” the utility stated.
Combative posture
However, Parkinson doesn’t believe Bill 206 would pass even if it did make it to the session floor.
The senator introduced a similar measure in the form of Bill 201-37, which would waive certain procurement requirements to facilitate the maintenance and repair of specific diesel generators. Like with the temporary power procurement, this is intended to increase generation capacity and mitigate load shedding on Guam.
Bill 201 was appended to the session agenda in January, but it failed to gain enough support to proceed past the debate stage.
“I sensed a combative posture between a majority consensus of the Legislature regarding GPA and Bill 201, with many senators expressing concern that GPA had not exhausted all their available procurement options,” Parkinson said on Monday.
“If my colleagues bring the same mistrust and assumption of ill-intent in the actions of the power utility management, then I see no way for (Bill 206) to move forward, and I imagine it will never leave committee,” he added.
Chairman Jeffrey Johnson during a Guam Public Utilities Commission regular meeting at the GCIC building in Hagåtña on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024.
