The Guam Power Authority will immediately begin power restoration services after the passage of Supertyphoon Mawar and a return to Condition of Readiness 4, with critical restoration priorities including hospitals, critical water well and wastewater facilities, critical infrastructure facilities, schools/designated shelters, public safety/health facilities and ports of entry, the utility announced Tuesday afternoon.
"Residents are asked not to inundate or overwhelm GPA Trouble Dispatch lines with inquiries regarding service restoration," GPA stated in a release. "Updates on power restoration will be provided to media, Office of Homeland Security/Office of Civil Defense and posted on GPA’s Facebook page."
The power utility stated, through a release from the Joint Information Center, that it would try to keep the power on as long as possible, and that power plants would be operational as long as it was capable and safe to do so.
GPA stated that transmission and distribution personnel would be out in the field to address power problems until it was no longer safe, and that eventually all personnel would have to be secured for safety reasons.Â
"Thereafter, as circuits trip, we may need to secure and bring units offline until it is safe to resume operations," the power utility stated through the JIC.
Top priority
When asked to elaborate more on when it would have to pull back personnel or bring units offline, the utility said in a statement to The Guam Daily Post that its top priority is the safety of its employees and customers.
"Power plants will continue generating power throughout the island as long as the islandwide power system remains intact and circuits are operable. As circuits begin experiencing damage related to adverse weather or field conditions, power plant generators will be secured a unit at a time to match the system demand, which decreases as more outages occur," GPA said in the statement.
"GPA will continue operating through the storm as long as there are still circuits intact, or we have a blackout. If we could keep some circuits operating, it will help recovery efforts. During the storm we will try to close back circuits which trip. If the circuit closes back up, it will continue to provide customers energy. If a circuit does not close back within 10 minutes, you can assume the circuit will have to wait until we get to the recovery phase. Crews will be out restoring circuits as long as it is safe to do so. If winds are too high for their safety, the GPA line supervisor (in) the field will automatically secure the crew and prepare for the recovery phase," the utility added.
As restoration progresses and communications systems are restored, GPA stated that its automated meter infrastructure or Smart Meter Network and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition would know which areas are experiencing outages. They will be able to locate pockets without power in the villages, and send crews to make repairs, GPA stated in its release.Â
"Trouble dispatchers will receive calls for down energized (sparking) lines, damaged poles or blown transformers. Please stay away from all down lines and equipment, as they may still be energized and can cause harm if you come in contact with the lines or equipment. Consider such situations as dangerous and life-threatening. If such conditions are present, please immediately report this situation to GPA's 24-Hour Trouble Dispatch at 671-475-1472/3/4 or via direct message on GPA’s Facebook page. Please provide exact location or address, contact information, and condition of location," GPA stated.
