HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Residents have been experiencing rotating power outages recently and that inconvenience results from more than just issues with the island’s baseload units, the main generators that power the grid.
Issues with other generators, including setbacks due to procurement protests, have affected the island’s generation capacity, which is only slightly above the peak demand at the moment, according to discussions Thursday between utility officials.
A 20-megawatt combustion turbine — critical to supporting capacity needs on Guam until the new Ukudu power plant comes online — has cracks in the high-pressure turbine and rotor areas. Moreover, the performance management contractor for the unit determined the generator is grounded, requiring off-island assessment and repair.
“Right now we’ve been load-shedding. Part of that reason is not having (Yigo CT’s) 20 megawatts,” Guam Power Authority General Manager John Benavente told members of the Consolidated Commission on Utilities on Thursday.
GPA is seeking approval to procure a hot section exchange for the Yigo CT unit, estimated to cost $1.8 million. The generator repair is expected to cost $1.5 million.
Depending on the generator assessment and repair, the generator work could take up to two months for repair and another two months for transportation. The hot section exchange may take up to four months from the purchase to delivery, and both may take up to two weeks for on-site installation.
Yigo CT was operational before the arrival of Typhoon Mawar, the Category 4 tropical cyclone that battered the island in late May.
“This is a big blow to us, so we need to get it back as soon as we can,” Benavente said.
The head of GPA added he will be speaking to the Ukudu power plant crew soon, but said the new plant may be delayed until as late as the end of 2025 due to typhoon damage. The Ukudu plant initially was slated to be commissioned by April 2024.
Guam needs as much capacity as possible in the meantime, he said. While GPA is looking at ways to get all other diesel generators operating, it’s encountering issues with procurement protests, according to Benavente. He said the utility may need to bring in additional generation capacity — temporary or for the long term — because the Ukudu power plant could still be two years away and the generators on Guam “are not spring chickens anymore.”
Benavente clarified that procurement protests are affecting the operation of the former Aggreko units, which are several low-capacity units first brought to Guam in 2016 to augment power capacity following the explosion at the Cabras 3 and 4 power plants the year prior and later made a more permanent fixture among GPA’s generation assets.
Altogether, the Aggreko units have a capacity of 40 MW, but are running at about 10 MW at the moment.
“We did it once and then a protest (was filed). We began running it ourselves, but again, it’s still difficult to get in the repairs and all of that. So we went out (for procurement) again. And then, again, we were getting close to opening the price and there were protests, typically the same people,” Benavente said Thursday.
“We’re trying to get a (performance management contractor). A lot of it is getting the technicians and the expertise and the parts. We’re looking at different angles right now. We got to do something because right now, we have 234 MW (capacity) and our peak is 220-some. That’s why we’re in this position of load shedding,” Benavente said.
He said GPA is looking at alternatives to add capacity.
The Guam Power Authority Dededo Combustion Turbine 1 and 2 are seen July 15, 2023.
