WAPA To Initiate 8-Hour Power Rotation From Saturday To Sunday In St. Thomas-St. John District

ST. THOMAS — In an effort to introduce more efficiency, reliability, and stability at the St. Thomas Randolph Harley Power Plant, the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority will install an additional 24-megawatt gas turbine generator this weekend, WAPA announced late Friday. To facilitate the installation, the authority must implement an eight-hour electrical service rotation schedule, from 10 p.m. Saturday, March 24 to 6 a.m. Sunday, March 25.

“This limited rotation schedule will allow plant personnel to safely tie-in the generator, Unit 27. We understand the inconvenience caused by a rotation schedule and apologize to our customers. We selected a time for the work to be completed which will have minimal impact on our customers while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” said Lawrence J. Kupfer, WAPA executive director.

During the overnight rotation schedule, both Units 25 and 26 will be taken off-line and completely de-energized to allow for the electrical interconnect of Unit 27. While this work is being performed, two remaining gas turbine units will be dispatched to provide service to the St. Thomas-St. John district. The rotation schedule is necessary, as the combined capacity of Units 14 and 15 is not sufficient to meet the electrical demand of the district.

ELECTRICAL ROTATION SCHEDULE

Saturday 10 pm – 12 am Sunday

Customers on Feeders 6A, 7B, 8B and 9E will be without service. Affected areas include the western end of St. Thomas past the UVI campus, Hospital Ground, Skyline Drive, Mahogany Run, Peterborg, portions of Sugar Estate, Harris Court and Pearson Gardens housing communities, a portion of Raphune Hill and portions of St. John from Centerline Road to Coral Bay.

Sunday 12 am – 2 am

Customers on Feeders 8A, 9A, 9C and 10B will be without service. Affected areas include Agnes Fancy, Altona & Welgunst, Mahogany Estate, Anna’s Fancy, Nye Norsidevej, Market Square, Backstreet, Norre Gade to Roosevelt Park, a portion of Rhymer Highway, Wintberg, Mandahl, St. Joseph & Rosendahl, Nadir, Frydenhoj, Fridendahl, Frenchman’s Bay, Bolongo, and Bovoni.

Sunday 2 am – 4 am

Customers on Feeder 7A will be without service. Affected areas include Harwood Highway, Solberg, Four Corners, St. Peter Mountain Road, Hull Bay, Mafolie, Mountain Top and Estate Elizabeth. If necessary, Feeder 7E will also be taken off- line during this time. Customers that would be affected by a service interruption on Feeder 7E include those in Nazareth, Ridge Road and Cruz Bay, St. John.

Sunday 4 am – 6 am

Customers on Feeder 7C will be without service. Affected areas include Anna’s Retreat, Tutu, Tutu High Rise, Smith Bay, and a portion of Red Hook.

Once Units 25, 26 and 27 are available, the Authority will have an approximate generation capacity of 70 megawatts from these leased units. When added to the 27 megawatts provided by Units 14 and 15, WAPA will be in a position to tap from an approximate 100 megawatts of generation capacity to meet the electrical demand of the St. Thomas – St. John district. “Having this level of capacity also allows the Authority to carry out preventative and regular maintenance of the generating units, and provides us with a buffer of additional capacity should we encounter failure on any of the units,” Kupfer added.

WAPA is currently leasing Units 25, 26 and 27 from Texas-based APR Energy to bridge a gap in generation capacity until such time that new, more reliable and energy- efficient generators are added to the generation fleet. The Authority is under contract with Wartsila North America to design, build, and engineer several new generating units over the next two to three years. Three of these new units are expected to be commissioned before the end of this year.