A major electrical service interruption related to generation capacity at the Randolph Harley Power Plant has resulted in a district wide outage, WAPA has made known via an alert.
The authority said the problems initially affected a few feeders but later escalated to a major service interruption.
Plant personnel are working to rebuild capacity at the plant in order to restore service to all affected customers, WAPA said. Estimated restoration timeline is 10 a.m.
“Today’s service interruption is not storm related and is a result of a complete loss of generation capacity at the power plant,” said the authority.
Tropical Storm Dorian is headed toward the U.S. Virgin Islands and is expected to impact the territory with hurricane-force winds later today, according to the National Hurricane Center’s 5:00 a.m. advisory. Governor Albert Bryan has issued a territory-wide curfew that takes effect at noon and lasts until daybreak Thursday.
On Tuesday, WAPA Executive Director Lawrence Mr. Kupfer said WAPA’s management team has been monitoring the storm since the weekend.
“Coordination is in place, and resources are readily available for damage assessment, and any required restoration efforts,” Mr. Kupfer said. Contractors presently on St. Croix are capable of performing damage assessment, and emergency restoration work through the use of 56 line workers. Preparations are in place to shift additional manpower from St. Thomas to St. Croix to commence initial restoration work if it becomes necessary.”
WAPA said its goal is to restore critical government facilities within 24 hours of the storm, including hospitals, airports, seaports, VITEMA, and the emergency response agencies. Most of those are provided electrical service through underground circuits.
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