WAPA Experiences Major Electrical Service Interruption In St. Thomas-St. John District; Restoration Underway (Update)

Update: WAPA told The Consortium about 7:17 a.m. that full restoration was achieved at 4:50 a.m.

Original Post: ST. THOMAS — A major electrical service interruption affected St. Thomas, St. John, Water Island and Hassel Island in the wee hours of Monday morning, according to the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority.  The alert was sent about 2:44 a.m.

WAPA said all generation capacity at the Randolph Harley Power Plant was lost at approximately 2:30 am Monday, and that plant personnel were working to restart a generating unit to facilitate the service restoration process.

In a followup alert sent at 3:53 a.m., WAPA said plant personnel successfully restarted two generating units at the Randolph Harley power plant following the complete loss of all generation capacity at 2:29 a.m. today.

Restoration of service to customers is underway, the authority said.