CUC Executive Director Antonio Muna said they already arranged to buy the excess power from Rota Resort’s generating power unit which produces three megawatt.
CUC will pay $0.5 per kwh.
CUC’s Mitsumi engine, which has a 1.5- to 1.7-megawatt capacity, is scheduled for maintenance, and its other engine is only producing 0.5-mega watt. The demand on Rota is 1.6 to 1.8 megawatts.
Muna said CUC will get emergency power from Rota Resort only during the time of maintenance to minimize power outages.
“Power production, of course, is our major concern,” he said, “Essentially what we are doing is that Mitsumi engine is in need of maintenance.”
When the repair and maintenance was undertaken before, he said, unavoidable power interruption occurred so “we have to confirm now the availability of emergency power from Rota Resort.”
There’s another engine that CUC needs to hook up to allow the agency to carry the load from the power plant while the maintenance of the Mitsumi engine is undergoing, Muna said.
Today, Gary P. Camacho, CUC power division manager, said they will install two air break switches that will allow CUC to restore the energy of the island’s feeders.
Air-break switches are usually mounted on substation structures or on poles and are operated manually from the ground.
Camacho said the repair and maintenance work may take only five to six hours.
Muna said CUC Rota personnel will do the repair and maintenance work, and may request from an additional mechanic from Saipan if necessary.
