Capacity Risks in St. Thomas-St. John Could Persist Until December; Generation Shortfall Continues to Drive Power Rotations, WAPA Says

The V.I. Water and Power Authority says ongoing power rotations in the St. Thomas-St. John district are being driven primarily by a shortage of generation capacity, with multiple units at the Randolph Harley Power Plant offline or operating below full output. WAPA Executive Director Karl Knight updated the authority’s board during a special meeting on Thursday, explaining that recent transmission problems have been addressed quickly, but the district remains exposed because there is not enough reserve generation when equipment fails. Mr. Knight said the most recent issue involved an “incident” with Feeder 13, the transmission line serving the eastern side of St. Thomas. “That issue was resolved during the course of the day,” he said. However, WAPA is still managing “concurrent” issues, including a fault on the transmission line between St. Thomas and St. John that resulted in an outage. While those issues are being addressed and resolved within hours, Mr. Knight said they are not th...