Power Plant 1 was generating only 5 megawatts and a CUC employee who declined to be identified told the Variety that they were “depending totally on Power Plant 4,” which is managed by Pacific Marine & Industrial Corp.-Rolls Royce.
Power Plant 4 is producing an average of 14.7 megawatts.
On Tuesday, CUC expanded its load shedding schedule as only two engines were online at Power Plant 1, producing 10 megawatts.
A power technical specialist, who also declined to be identified, said the power problem on Saipan is “very critical now” and the people should expect more power outages as the engines at Power Plant 1 continue to break down.
Yesterday, Gary P. Camacho, acting power division manager of CUC, said the ongoing mechanical repair of the crankpin bearings of Engine 2 and other mechanical and electrical problems of Engine 6 at Power Plant 1 required a further expansion of load shedding throughout the island.
In a press statement, Camacho said Engine 6 was expected to be repaired last night, and this will provide an additional 6 megawatts for distribution.
Engine 8 should be repaired later today and will provide an additional 5 megawatts, he said.
The engine requiring the most extensive repairs is no. 2, which is expected to be fixed at the end of next week and will provide an additional 5 megawatts, he added.
Camacho said Engine 3 was the only operational unit at Power Plant 1 yesterday so the load shedding had been very extensive and included three and four feeders at one time for many hours.
But once Engines 6 and 8 are repaired, the load shedding will be reduced, he added.
“CUC apologizes for any inconvenience the load shedding schedule has imposed on the community and will continue to work diligently to resolve the problem,” he said.
