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The Guam Power Authority will ask lawmakers for authority to borrow $300 million on the bond market for electrical grid upgrades, after the Consolidated Commission on Utilities gave its approval on Tuesday night. There’s no update yet on a deal to keep the Ukudu power plant running while one of three rotors is out for repair. Damages accumulated by the contractor for the now past-due plant reached $6.7 million Tuesday. CCU commissioners voted unanimously to allow GPA to go after the $300 million bond borrowing. GPA will still need to get approval from the Legislature and the Guam Economic Development Authority, as well as the Public Utilities Commission before moving forward. GPA General Manager John Benavente said the power authority has about $518 million worth of work it wants to do, but will cover $300 million of it in the next five years. Here’s the spending breakdown, according to Benavente: $56 million for distribution system work$38 million for facilities$42 million for generation$156 million for transmission$2.2 million to replace water and wastewater system standby generators Benavente last week said some big-ticket items include maintenance for reserve generators that have been running “full bore” for years, putting more power lines underground for the island, replacing aging lines that are already underground and hardening transmission infrastructure. GPA plans to borrow the money in three $100 million tranches. He said the expected increase in power demand from the military buildup and other sources will help GPA cover the cost of payments on the debt without having to raise rates. “It’s going to take about 4% increase in the energy sales to generate about $8 million to issue about $100 million bond,” Benavente said on Tuesday. Joint Region Marianas predicts military service members, dependents, and civilians on Guam will grow by 10,000 over the next decade, the Pacific Daily News has reported. Once approval is secured from the Legislature, Benavente said the power authority may come back to the CCU and then the PUC by 2026 or 2027. Among projects laid out by Benavente at a work session last week are maintenance for existing combustion turbine and diesel generators that GPA plans to keep on standby once the 198-megawatt Ukudu power plant comes online. More transmission infrastructure, $117 million worth, including a new substation at Potts Junction in Dededo, are also on the table. Likewise, GPA has also estimated $149 million needed to put power lines in more areas underground, including Tamuning, Barrigada and Mangilao. Kaiser subdivision in Dededo, a major population area that often takes a long time to restore power after storms, is also a candidate for underground power, Benavente has said. Aging underground power lines in Sinajana and Baza Gardens in Yona also need fixing, he said. Ukudu plant There’s no decision yet from Ukudu plant contractor Guam Ukudu Power on a deal to keep two of the three combustion turbines at the plant running while a third is out for repair, according to Benavente. The plant was due for full commissioning by Sept. 30, and the contractor accumulates $240,000 in liquidated damages for each day that the plant is late. That amount hit $6.7 million as of Tuesday, and will hit $7.4 million by the month’s end. Benavente previously floated the possibility of having contractor Guam Ukudu Power run the two turbines at Ukudu at no cost, in lieu of the damages. But he said Tuesday that negotiations are still ongoing. CCU Commissioner Simon Sanchez did ask what the delay in negotiations with the contractor was. Benavente told him he wanted to discuss the matter in a closed-door executive session. He said the plant was still providing about 120 MW of power to the grid from two turbines up until two weeks ago. One turbine went down but was started up again on Friday, Benavente said. A 33-ton rotor for the third combustion turbine was shipped to Sweden for analysis and repair, and is due back before the end of the month. The Ukudu plant won’t come fully online until the end of November, or even December, according to GPA.
