WAPA said power was restored in the St. Thomas-St. John district after prolonged outage

Official document: http://www.viwapa.vi/docs/default-source/default-document-library/06282021-wapa-restores-electrical-service-in-stt-stj-district-cause-of-outage-identified.pdf?sfvrsn=4d5da64d_2

Archive page: https://www.viwapa.vi/news-information/press-releases/press-release-details/2021/06/28/wapa-restores-electrical-service-to-st.-thomas-st.-john-district

The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority said electrical service was restored on June 27, 2021, to customers in the St. Thomas-St. John district after a prolonged districtwide outage.

WAPA said the blackout expanded as personnel at the Randolph Harley Power Plant in Krum Bay faced operational problems while trying to rebuild enough generation to meet demand on St. Thomas, St. John, Water Island and Hassel Island.

According to the authority, several generating units normally reserved for service restoration had faced problems in the previous two weeks. WAPA said Units 14, 15 and 23 had been sidelined by separate issues. Repairs had been completed on Unit 14 and it was used after the June 17, 2021 outage, while Unit 15 had been repaired but still needed additional work.

Interim Executive Director Noel Hodge said Unit 15 began losing load on June 27 after a disruption in propane fuel delivery forced the unit to switch from liquefied petroleum gas to No. 2 oil. WAPA said the problems with Unit 15 also affected three propane-fired reciprocating internal combustion engine generators, which tripped and led to the midday outage.

WAPA said crews worked through late afternoon to restore service, starting with Unit 14, then leased Unit 27, followed by the propane-fired generators. The authority said several attempts at full restoration failed as units tripped repeatedly for various reasons. It also said crews encountered problems sectionalizing distribution feeders because many sectionalizing devices had been damaged in the 2017 storms.

WAPA said six units were brought online on the night of June 27, providing enough capacity to restore service to all affected customers. The outage ended after service was fully restored to parts of Smith Bay, Nazareth, Red Hook and St. John.

The authority said it would prioritize and accelerate repairs to generating units and pursue a full system coordination study to evaluate generator performance, the effects of faults on the grid and protection settings intended to reduce the risk of plant outages from outside disturbances.