Parts of St. Thomas and St. John were plunged into darkness Saturday night when the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority lost Unit 23, its workhorse generating unit. Workers restored service to some areas and continued working into the night.
The failure of Unit 23 at about 7:50 p.m. Saturday tripped several feeders across the St. Thomas-St. John district. About 30 minutes later, Unit 14 tripped, and as a result, additional feeders fell off line, according to a news release from WAPA.
All in all, about 16,000 customers were affected by the service interruption.
Plant personnel worked Saturday night to restart both Units 23 and 14, and to bring Unit 15 on line. This unit has just undergone the conversion to allow it to burn LPG fuel. The restoration was further taxed by the fact that Unit 25 was not available Saturday as it is undergoing scheduled maintenance.
At about 10 p.m. Saturday the utility announced it had restored service to the following feeders:
– Feeder 7A – service is fully restored;
– Feeder 8B partially restored, from the Randolph Harley Power Plant (Power Plant) to Louisenhoj Castle. Service remains interrupted to Skyline and Peterborg.
– Feeder 7C partially restored from the Power Plant to Four Winds Plaza. Service remains interrupted to Annas Retreat and Hidden Valley.
– Service is still interrupted to feeders: 7D, 7E, Ridge Road and 9D.
Restoration efforts are ongoing, WAPA said.
WAPA’s news release did not specify what caused the initial problem with Unit 23.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with information about which feeders have been restored.
