CHARLOTTE AMALIE — As a blistering heat wave continued Monday, rolling blackouts plagued V.I. Water and Power Authority customers throughout the St. Thomas-St. John district, and there’s no end in sight to the frequent, unannounced outages.
There was an “Emergency Shutdown Protocol” at the Harley Power Plant at around 11 a.m. Monday, “caused by a gas detection leak,” according to WAPA.
It’s unclear why the emergency shutdown system was triggered, but “a couple of the Wartsilas tripped, which caused the feeders to go out,” WAPA spokeswoman Shanell Petersen said Monday, in response to questions from The Daily News.
Rolling blackouts continued across the district into the night, as the plant was unable to generate enough power to meet peak demand.
While some of the plant’s generators typically run on propane, all generators were switched to diesel fuel until the emergency shutdown issue is resolved, according to WAPA.
Outages have been ongoing for weeks throughout the territory, and are being blamed on everything from fuel shortages to broken generators, to still-unknown causes.
The latest round of outages started Thursday, when WAPA said generator Unit 15 was unable to run on propane, and there was a need to conserve diesel fuel. A diesel shipment finally arrived Saturday, but Unit 15 is still undergoing repairs as of Monday and is only able to operate on diesel.
Vines growing on a pole in Frenchtown caused an outage on Feeder 8A on Sunday while line crews trimmed the vegetation, according to Petersen. Petersen said it’s unclear why other customers on the Northside of St. Thomas suffered a 90-minute outage Sunday afternoon.
On Monday, Feeders 7A and 8B went out at around 11 a.m., affecting over 4,000 customers for more than two hours. Feeders 7C, 9C, 7E, and 9E were the next to go out, and St. John and the East End of St. Thomas were without power for several hours. Lengthy outages continued on the west end and other areas through Monday evening, leaving thousands without electricity amid a heat advisory by the National Weather Service.
There was a different emergency shutdown system activated at the plant on May 9, which caused a loud explosion sound and employee evacuation.
That situation activated a rupture disc, which is a safety device triggered by excess pressure. Petersen said Monday that it’s unclear why the rupture disc went off, and “they’re still investigating that.”
There are three Wartsila generators currently at the plant, and four new Wartsila generators that have been on island since 2021 are still sitting idle, amid ongoing negotiations over payment.
Petersen said the Authority had several productive meetings last week and is hoping to get an update on whether negotiations between the two parties have been finalized.
Petersen said that once negotiations are completed, “ideally they’re looking at a couple weeks to mobilize again, and then from there we’re looking at four weeks to completion, based on the work that’s remaining.”
Governor Albert Bryan declared a State of Emergency on April 22 because of WAPA’s inability to provide continuous power generation. Despite millions of dollars in payments by the government to WAPA, rolling blackouts have continued.
Government House Communications Director Richard Motta Jr. did not respond to questions from The Daily News on Monday.
The St. Thomas water system, particularly in the downtown area, has also been suffering major outages, and Petersen said the system is slated for eventual replacement with Federal Emergency Management Agency funding.
The saltwater near downtown impacts the water distribution system, Petersen said, “so there are places of rusting or deterioration because of it. So, it’s simply an aged infrastructure that needs replacement to prevent the leaks that we’re seeing.”
By SUZANNE CARLSON/V.I. Daily News