HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — With the holiday season underway and as many residents across the island deck out their homes with festive lights, the Guam Power Authority warned that there is a chance those lights may be dimmed with periodic load shedding.
Load shedding occurs when GPA needs to reduce strain on the power grid in instances where power generation does not meet consumer demand, and with the Christmas season here, GPA released a potential rotating outage schedule.
“Effective Dec. 1, 2023, the rotating outage schedule could affect certain feeders from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. While the schedule has been posted, it’s important to note that it doesn’t necessarily mean that power will go out during these times,” GPA said Friday.
Load shedding generally occurs at the top of the hour and restores at the top of the following hour. GPA reported earlier this week that the average outage lasts about 22 minutes per feeder, or each day of load shedding.
“GPA is committed and will make best efforts to minimize outage, most especially during the holiday season. GPA continues to work on a multi-prong approach to resolve our capacity shortfall, and we ask our customers to help us get through this challenging but temporary situation, and we thank you for your patience,” said GPA General Manager John Benavente.
Load shedding is due to ongoing maintenance and repairs to the decades-old power system. At this time, ongoing efforts include: Repairing of Yigo 40 megawatt diesels to increase capacity by 25 MW, which GPA said it is looking to complete as soon as possible if legal constraints are lifted with the hopeful passage of Bill 201-37; procuring 40 MW of temporary power, which GPA said it is targeting for May 2024 if there are no protests; repairing typhoon-damaged Yigo 20 MW combustion turbine generator rotor, which GPA said it is targeting for February 2024; returning Caterpillar and Wartsila units to service, which GPA said will increase plant capacity by 17 MW and GPA is targeting for April 2024; use of existing energy storage batteries to shift 40 megawatt-hours energy to peak time; and continuing to expand interruptible load capacity.
GPA said as work is completed, the units’ capacity will increase in the next several months, decreasing the potential for load shedding. Their target for reaching “adequate reserves” is May 2024.
In November, GPA completed work on Cabras Unit 2 boiler tube repairs and Piti 7 preventive maintenance. The work on Piti 7 increased grid capacity from 22 MW to 30 MW.
Last Thursday, the Public Utilities Commission approved the procurement of 40 MW of temporary power generation which, barring any protests, will be commissioned May 2024.
The Guam Power Authority Cabras 1 and 2 power plant in Piti on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023.
