Palau Public Utilities Corporation (PPUC) General Manager Ken Uyehara during a meeting Wednesday with President Johnson Toribiong and members of the cabinet said that the outages were due to emergency mechanical services which required the unloading of the Mitsubishi No. 12 at the Malakal Power Plant on June 1, 2009 and DG2 and DG4 at the Aimeliik Power Plant on June 2 and June 3.
Uyehara said one of the engines at the Aimeliik Plant on Tuesday causing the outage.He added that the weather also contributed to the power outages. He said the winds are affecting the transmission lines.PPUC is continuing with its maintenance work that is why commercial customers are requested to assist PPUC by utilizing their own power source this week until engine repairs has been addressed.The commercial customers are asked to be on their own during the peak hours throughout the day and up until 9 or 10 pm in the evening.The maintenance work is being done to fully supply all residential, commercial and government power demand.Presently the PPUC Aimeliik and Malakal Power Plants are supplying 10, 350 megawatt with Ngerulmud back-up generator to assist in supplying power to the Babeldaob East Coast and the Palau capitol building in case there will be a prolonged maintenance service to be conducted.Ngerulmud stand by generator has a capacity of 2.0 MW.PPUC is a statement said that it is hopeful that commercial customers will be back on line to PPUC power over the upcoming weekend once all the mechanical services are completed.“The board of directors, management and the staff of PPUC apologizes to the public for the inconvenience these unscheduled services have cost and appreciates the cooperation and understanding which has been extended to PPUV over the last few months,” in a statement said.
