“Hardworking CUC employees are fighting a losing battle to provide power for CNMI because they don’t have the parts” for the power engines, said Camacho, R-Saipan.
The lawmaker toured Power Plant 1 on Monday with Speaker Arnold I. Palacios, R-Saipan, Rep. Victor B. Hocog, Ind.-Rota, Vice Speaker Joseph P. Deleon Guerrero, R-Saipan, Rep. Diego T. Benavente, R-Saipan, and Fred Guerrero, Camacho’s staffer.
Camacho echoed the observations of Hocog and Deleon Guerrero, who said that of the eight engines at the plant, four are down, while the other four are performing below their capacity.
The four engines running are not enough to provide power in CNMI, Camacho said.
According to the June 11 CUC power generation status report, engines #2, 3, 6, and 8 are producing only 22 megawatts of power out of the total rated capacity of 81.2 megawatts, if all engines are operating.
Camacho said some parts of the broken engines are being taken out to be used for the four running engines which also have “problems.”
Hocog said engine #6 was “cannibalized” to run engine #4.
Camacho said the engines are “operating in an unsafe situation [due to vibrations]. It is a dangerous situation that needs to be addressed.”
He said he noticed leaking oil and water from different parts of these engines.
Repairs were being conducted during their tour of the plant, but the contractor was “buying time as they wait for parts,” Camacho said.
