💧 Water and Power · St. Croix, VI
WAPA said fuel-supply problem at Richmond plant caused St. Croix outages
Official document: https://www.viwapa.vi/docs/default-source/2023-pr/press-release-(1.10.24)-authority-provides-update-on-richmond-power-plant-challenges.pdf?sfvrsn=651993_3
The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority said on January 10, 2024, that a problem with a fuel supplier’s export pump at the Estate Richmond Power Plant led to a series of electrical service interruptions on St. Croix that began on January 8, 2024.
According to WAPA, its fuel supplier, Saintanals, found an issue on January 8 affecting the pump that provides propane to Aggreko generating units at the Richmond plant. WAPA said the problem prevented the Aggreko units from operating and caused a major disruption to electrical service.
WAPA said it then started Generation Unit 20, restoring service to several feeders, and later energized Generation Unit 17. The authority said the initial activation of Unit 17 was successful, but the Aggreko units were unable to stabilize and tripped because of feedback from those units, causing an island-wide outage on St. Croix.
WAPA said plant operators brought most of Richmond’s generation back online and restored power to most customers by 3:30 p.m. on January 8, with island-wide service fully restored by 4:30 p.m.
As of January 10, WAPA said the Richmond plant was meeting generation needs for all customers, while backup units were being repaired or were scheduled for regular maintenance.