V.I. Water and Power Authority head Karl Knight told the authority’s governing board Thursday that all four of the authority’s recently-commissioned Wartsila generators are online, despite earlier growing pains.
The caveat, Knight said, is that WAPA has been operating them with light fuel oil.
“They have been stable … in the LFO operation,” he said. “That has allowed us to sort of really focus in on what are the operational impacts when we switch to the liquefied petroleum gas — LPG — operation? And so we are suspecting that the issues that we’ve had since their commissioning are more related to their operations on the LPG.”
Knight said Wartsila personnel are on the ground to troubleshoot issues with the generators, and a subject matter expert from the manufacturer of the authority’s fuel pump has also been called in. Knight said he also met with Wartsila’s corporate arm.
“I left that meeting convinced that they understand what’s at stake and that they were making their best efforts to not only resolve and make the units operational, but also to identify what has created the problems and what are the permanent resolutions to those issues moving forward,” he said.
Knight’s report came after a presentation from insurance brokerage company Willis Towers Watson. The board ultimately authorized a one-year renewal of the utility’s $10 million property insurance coverage at a cost of $2.5 million.
Thursday’s meeting began with members rising into executive session to discuss legal and personnel issues. No actions were taken.
The board then approved a no-cost, three-month extension to its contract with Kami Metals for oil cleanup work on St. Thomas. The authority entered into a contract with the company last March, several months after the company performed oil remediation following a release at the Randolph Harley Power Plant and the Lindbergh Bay area. WAPA Environmental Affairs Manager Maxwell George told the board Thursday that the extension is meant to keep Kami Metals on hand in case the U.S. Coast Guard, which oversaw the response to the spill, has any further concerns that need to be addressed.
“We’re not anticipating anything else to be done,” he said. “But they do have the final say, and it also allows us to — if they have us do anything else — to submit that to the insurance to be covered by that, should need be.”
The board also approved a no-cost extension to a contract with Maryland-based accounting firm BDO for auditing services and considered a cost increase to the authority’s existing contract with consultants Ernst and Young, from $195,000 to $250,000 per month. Chief Financial Officer Lorraine Kelly noted that the firm’s services can be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The board opted to table the matter pending receipt and review of a redlined contract.
