“Bear in mind that these engines are brand new so there’s a ‘break in’ period,” he told Variety, but added that the Aggreko generators were tested in Singapore before they are shipped to Saipan.
Muna said there may be “some glitches” involving engines that are operating 24 hours but Aggreko’s engineers have already made adjustments.
Variety learned that Engine 8 of Power Plant 1 was down on Sunday due to “overheating” after two Aggreko units tripped off, affecting the distribution system.
In a press statement, CUC power division acting manager Gary P. Camacho said over the past week, Aggreko’s temporary power plant has required power interruptions in four cases as they continue to make necessary adjustments to the generation system.
The total interruption time as a result of these adjustments has been 3 hours and 45 minutes, Camacho said.
He said Power Plant 1 experienced two power interruptions since the integration of the Aggreko generators on Sept. 12 and these were caused by mechanical problems involving Engine 6 and 8.
“In both cases, the power plant staff quickly addressed the issues, and the engines were restarted as soon as possible,” he said.
According to Camacho, “despite these intermittent temporary power interruptions, the Aggreko power plant has been instrumental in assisting our generation program in eliminating our need to load shed. Aggreko is providing the additional power required to sustain the island’s power demand, as CUC continues to perform maintenance and repairs to the engines at Power Plants 1 and 2.”
The CNMI will pay Aggreko $6 million for the use of its generators in the next 12 months.
As of press time yesterday, Muna said CUC was producing 42.7 megawatts to meet the 41-megawatt actual power demand on Saipan.
He said the Aggreko power plant is expected to generate an additional 1.7 megawatts when its two other engines go online by Sept. 30.
