💧 Water and Power · U.S. Virgin Islands
WAPA cited fuel and excitation system problems in May 4 outages on St. Thomas-St. John
The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority said on May 5, 2020, that plant personnel had made a preliminary determination that fuel system issues contributed to two district-wide electrical service interruptions on May 4 in the St. Thomas-St. John district.
WAPA said Unit 23 at the Randolph Harley Power Plant went offline at about 12:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. on May 4 because of fuel system issues. In a third outage just before midnight, the utility said the unit developed problems with its excitation system, which provides field current to the rotor winding. In each case, WAPA said the loss of Unit 23 caused the Harley plant to go offline, leading to major outages on St. Thomas, St. John, Hassel Island and Water Island.
The authority said plant personnel also faced difficulties restoring electrical service at the power plant after the initial outage, delaying the startup of other generating units and the broader restoration effort.
WAPA said full restoration was achieved at 3:52 a.m. on May 5. By that afternoon, four generators, including Unit 23, were supplying the district.
The utility said it was working to complete repairs to WAPA-owned Unit 15 to add generation capacity and warned that forced service interruptions could be imposed over the following 24 to 48 hours if needed to maintain plant stability.