The Niigata generators were due to arrive in May, but because of weight capacity problems and other issues with the shipping company, the arrival has been moved to Oct. 30. But reportedly due to bad weather it was set again to arrive on Nov. 4.
PPUC Public Information Officer Tmetuchl Baules said it takes a couple days to clear the equipment, meaning payment of necessary fees and others in order to release the generators.
He said that when the generators are transported to the Power Plant next week, they will schedule a press conference and photograph session with the media. Unfortunately, strict port requirements do not allow PPUC to have visitors at the port.
The Harada Trading Corporation is the Japanese company shipping the new generators.
The auxiliary equipment however which are parts for the generators have been arriving since August and more are expected to arrive during the rest of this month.
The equipment also includes brand new transformers which are already at the Malakal Power plant.
The new generators were purchased for $4 million and have only been running for about 1400 hours or 46 days.
This running time was necessary in order to ensure that the machines’ engines are performing adequately.
These Niigata Generators have a life expectancy of about 25 years.
The two new generators will increase the capacity to 12 megawatts more. These generators will be for the Malakal Power Plant use, which will mean less power outages in Koror.
The Malakal and Ameliik power plants combined have a total capacity of 12,790 megawatts.
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