MEETING WITH ELECTRICAL STAKEHOLDERS
Hector Olivieri, Director of OMME, Vieques has procured for us a seat at the table in the power restoration arena. This is huge! When Director Olivieri realized that schemes for running new power lines through F&W were progressing without the input of the citizens and professionals on Vieques, he decided to invite the key figures from FEMA, US Army Corp of Engineers (USACE), Department of Energy, PREPA, and others, including local experts, to meet and discuss the situation, the goals, and the options.
Among the many professionals in attendance were:
- Thomas Holden, Director, FEMA
- John Lloyd, Director of Power Restoration for PR, USACE
- Assha Tribble, PhD, FEMA
- Carlos D. Torres, EEI
- Jeff Miller, DOE
- Mike Barandiaran, USFWS
As well as many more from these same organizations and representatives from AAA, PREPA, USCG, PRANG, Fluor, Tourism, VCHT, Vieques Love, and others.
The morning began with a field trip to Punta Arena with an additional stop at the substation across from the Collectoria, followed by a meeting in the multiplex. The following highlights what was learned:
- According to Conde, Director of AAA for Vieques, the old solar panels at Arcadia (water pump station on the way to Punta Arenas) never were in service. Since Tesla installed their panels and battery systems (Power Walls), the old panels were integrated into the microgrid and are working.
- There are two 3.5MW diesel generators at Bastimento that we use for backup power. We are currently using electricity at the rate of about 1.6MW for the portion of the island with service. Our historical peak power requirements have been about 6MW. Backup generators, as opposed to prime generators, are designed to run for short periods of time and then rested. They are often used on a cycle of 12 hours on and then 12 hours off. As it turns out, our backup generators are robust and have the capability to run full time. They require routine maintenance every 500 hours. So, every three weeks each generator must be shut off for up to 8 hours and serviced. We have all been pleasantly surprised at the excellent performance of the crew and generator that together have provided excellent power for the last month.
- The status of our generators is: one is working fine, and the other is off due to ambiguous readings in the monitoring equipment. We have two problems that affect the continued operation of these generators:
- Getting parts for routine maintenance through the supply chain at the PREPA bureaucracy is harder than getting permits to build an airport in the Plaza; and
- The generators come from a French company and getting authorization to fly in an appropriate engineer to help diagnose the problem is even harder than getting parts.
- The upper staffs of both USACE and FEMA say they are now fully aware of the problem and will work it out. Timing remains an unknown.
- The good news is that Fluor/Pike are making rapid progress, and it is expected that many more areas will be coming online soon. The dilemma we are facing is that we may have difficulty powering the whole island if the second generator is not brought online.
- The power from Naguabo arrives at Punta Arenas in two cables, one of which was installed decades ago and another larger one in the 90’s. Both are said to be at the end of their life cycles. The transmission lines from Punta Arenas have been routed through the lagoon area well south of the Fish and Wildlife road to the beaches. Approximately 45 poles are down along that route. There are many options for restoration with each having its own advantages, disadvantages, and costs which must be thoroughly vetted:
- Restore the existing system using the same route with replacement wooden poles. This would require road building within the refuge to erect and service the system. The grid would remain vulnerable to similar events.
- Same as “a” but with concrete poles which would be more durable and handle longer cable spans.
- Reroute the system to parallel the existing beach road. The water line for the island is already buried on the north side of the road.
- Splice new undersea cables into the arriving cables at Punta Arenas and run these off shore to an access point very close to Mosquito Pier and connect to the grid there. The disruption to the refuge would be eliminated, maintenance would be minimized, and storm damage would no longer be an issue. The problem with this is that it is known that the existing cables are near the end of their lives, so it doesn’t necessarily make sense to invest $3M to $5M connecting to obsolete infrastructure. Past experience with undersea cables indicates a cost of between $1M to $1.5M per mile.
- Run new undersea cables from Ceiba to the Mosquito Pier area. This is the preferred long term solution by all, but the costs may exceed FEMA’s allocation when the analysis is completed.
- There are variations on the above schemes that will also be studied. The timing for each of these fixes is quite different, and that factor will also be taken into account. The immediate goal is to get the power on everywhere as fast as possible. The power generation we have previously received from Naguabo is not currently available due to that plant supplying 100% of its output to the main island grid. It is not clear when it will be able to supply Vieques and Culebra. The fastest any of the solutions for distributing main island power here appears to exceed 2 months. The longer term solution, if accepted, could be double or triple.
- What I would like to see, based on the information presented is:
- New cables run from Ceiba to near mosquito Pier.
- A 6MW generator (offered by FEMA) added to the two 3.5MW plants to give us the reliable capability to run 24/7 until power is 100% restored from the main island. After the situation becomes normal, we could return the new generator to FEMA.
The meeting was an enormous step in the right direction. It brought the most experienced and professional people together to sit down a thoroughly present and discuss the goals and potential solutions. Thanks to Director Olivieri and all of those who took the time and made the effort to help Vieques recover and flourish.