💧 Water and Power · U.S. Virgin Islands
WAPA board approved tree-trimming contract changes and lineman training on June 24, 2021
The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority’s governing board approved contract changes for tree-trimming work and a two-year lineman training program during its monthly meeting on June 24, 2021.
The board voted to add tree-trimming services to existing contracts with companies installing composite utility poles in areas where electrical circuits would not be undergrounded. The amendments were approved with BBC Electrical Services for work on St. John and with Haugland Energy for work on St. Thomas and St. Croix.
Board members also approved a two-year contract with Electric Cities of Georgia for an in-house lineman training and development program through June 30, 2023. The contract totaled $516,500, with $215,000 to be funded by a federal grant.
WAPA said the training program began in 2019 but was interrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic after the existing contract expired. The authority said additional training was needed for linemen to obtain required certifications.
The board also ratified a resolution allowing the electric and water systems to operate at fiscal year 2021 budget levels until fiscal year 2022 budgets were approved. WAPA’s fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30.
A proposed three-year contract with Sustainable Capital Advisors LLC for consulting services related to capital planning, budgeting, financing alternatives and the sale of securities was tabled.
Interim Executive Director Noel Hodge also gave board members a preliminary update on the districtwide outage that began on June 17, 2021, and continued into June 18, 2021. He said an electrical fault on Feeder 7E propagated back to the power plant, causing Unit 23 to trip offline. According to the update, the loss of Unit 23 led three other units to fall offline, resulting in the outage.
Hodge said WAPA was continuing to review data to determine why Unit 23 did not remain online after the fault. He also said Units 14 and 15 were already out of service because of mechanical problems and that leased Unit 27 failed to black start.
In executive session, board members discussed legal matters. No votes were taken.