HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Work to generate enough power to support the needs of the community continues this week as the Guam Power Authority faces the highest periods of demand.
GPA General Manager John Benavente told The Guam Daily Post that repairs to the 48-year-old unit Cabras 2 will continue this week with the assistance of skilled workers.
“Technicians are arriving to balance (the) generator to reduce vibrations,” Benavente said.
GPA reported that Cabras 2’s ongoing repairs have been focused on a boiler tube leak that was detected and repaired as of Sept. 20. The repair is followed by a process called “pressure hydro,” which is meant to determine if all the tubes are intact.
“In the process of doing so, sometimes more leaks are found. GPA personnel will continue to work with its contractor, TEMES (Taiwan Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Services), to get the repairs completed and the unit back online,” a release from GPA said at the time.
As repairs continue, GPA will – as a last resort – turn to load shedding, which has been tentatively scheduled for the island through Sept 30. This is done to maintain grid stability when demand exceeds energy capacity, according to the utility.
“September and October is (the) period of highest demand. As usual, we ask for conservation as we work through this difficult period,” said Benavente.
According to the general manager, load shedding will continue as necessary but has been limited.
“There has been limited load shedding because of assistance from interruptible load customers and (the) Navy,” Benavente said.
Large customers like hotels and the Navy have assisted by going offline and operating on standby generators during peak hours when demand is the highest, minimizing outages across the island, he said.
The Cabras 1 and Cabras 2 power plants are seen Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023, in Piti. Repairs to the Cabras 2 baseload unit are ongoing, according to the Guam Power Authority.
