Residents across the territory faced a day of widespread power issues Monday, raising concerns over whether the V.I. Water and Power Authority is prepared to handle the impending arrival of Tropical Storm Ernesto.
Late Monday, WAPA Chief Executive Officer Karl Knight detailed a series of generation-related issues that disrupted power across the territory, complicating storm preparations for many households. By 8:30 p.m., with a rotating outage schedule already in effect for St. Thomas-St. John, Knight expressed cautious optimism that power in at least one district could stabilize within the hour.
The issues began with an unexpected leak on one of the generating units, a setback that Knight said was unforeseen. Despite these challenges, there was some positive news: Wärtsilä 3, a unit that had been offline for a month due to repairs, was back online. However, other units proved less reliable.
“Unit 27 tripped earlier today and, unfortunately, has a proactive lockout system that kept it down for four hours,” Knight explained. “We had to wait that out before we could bring it back up.” Compounding the problem, Unit 23, which had been running, also tripped due to an unidentified fuel line issue, further straining WAPA’s capacity.
To offset these losses, WAPA has kept Unit 15 and the Wartsila units running, though Knight emphasized that these problems are unrelated to the approaching storm. “These are ongoing generation and maintenance issues,” he said.
Despite the ongoing struggles, Knight expressed confidence in WAPA’s ability to weather Tropical Storm Ernesto. “We don’t expect it to be too severe,” he said. “We’ve built some resilience into the transition and distribution system, but lightning has been a problem. We don’t have all the protective measures in place to safeguard against it, which is a concern, but overall, I think we’re going to fare well.”
The challenges aren’t confined to St. Thomas-St. John. On St. Croix, WAPA dealt with voltage issues stemming from problems with Unit 17. “We had to take the unit down, which meant dropping a few feeders,” Knight said. “Right now, we’re restarting—it’s a bit of an anomaly.”
Knight also mentioned that Unit 19 remains offline for an overhaul, and the solar farm isn’t an option at night. However, WAPA’s backup plan involves taking the reverse osmosis plant online to generate two megawatts, which should help bring Feeders 9 and 4 back online.
As Tropical Storm Ernesto approaches, Knight reassured residents that WAPA has enough generation capacity to handle the storm-related demands. “Even if there is an outage and feeders drop, the generators will keep running, and we’ll pick up the load afterward,” he said.
However, Knight noted that if wind speeds exceed 35 miles per hour, safety protocols would prevent crews from being sent out. In such cases, WAPA would attempt to remotely manage any feeder drops. Early Tuesday morning, WAPA will conduct a complete debrief to assess the issues, Knight said.
