CPA earlier announced that it asked the FAA to fund the purchase of two new generators, but the ports authority now says it will just repair its two generators that have broken down.
The new unit is expected to be operational in less than 500 days, according to CPA acting Executive Director Lee Cabrera.
The FAA, he added, has already approved the funding and installation of the new generator.
Cabrera said CPA has awarded GPPC a contract for the purchase of the new generator, while another contract was signed with Seafix for the repairs of the two existing generators.
“The $2 million price of the new generator includes the wiring and feeders for the installation,” he added.
The repairs will cost approximately $200,000 and will be completed after five months.
Funding for the repairs will come from the federal grants earlier approved for CPA airport projects.
Cabrera, in his report to the governor and the Legislature, said the problems with CPA’s backup generators are “a serious and disturbing development.”
He said the load shedding schedule of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. has affected CPA’s delivery of services and increased the load on its generators which are supposed to be for backup only.
Early this month, two flights of the Northwest Airlines were delayed during a power outage at the airport, stranding over 200 passengers on the planes. The same incident happened last year due to an unscheduled power outage.
