WAPA Approves $1.52 Million Transformer Purchase to Safeguard St. Croix’s Power Supply

On Thursday morning, the V.I. Water and Power Authority Governing Board convened an emergency meeting to consider and approve the procurement of a new transformer for St. Croix. Making the case for the purchase of this $1.52 million T3 transformer was Cordell Jacobs, WAPA's  interim director of transmission and distribution. “Not replacing this transformer, if anything were to happen, it would have a dire effect on the island of St. Croix with prolonged loss of power to the island,” he told board members. Purchasing the new transformer would “restore redundancy to the Richmond substation…and so that would lead to better reliability,” Mr. Jacobs said in response to a question from WAPA board member Maurice Muia. Mr. Jacobs said that “this is part of a larger project at Richmond where there's prudent replacement for,” noting that other transformers at the Richmond power station would also be eventually replaced. Chief Financial Officer Lorraine Kelly assured board members that WAPA d...