Benavente says a plan involving incentives for customers who conserve energy is possible in the future.
Guam – GPA GM John Benavente says he will look into incentives to persuade customers to conserve energy during this current energy crisis.
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Benavente has laid out a series of plans to help GPA keep the lights on during this current energy crisis, which stemmed from the explosions at Cabras 3&4. Benavente, on the K57 Breakfast Show with Patti Arroyo laid out what he calls an immediate, near-term and long-term plans for GPA. One of Benaventes future plans is to find a way to persuade customers to conserve energy.
“The next step maybe is having some incentives. I’m not talking about today, but in the future where we try to shave the peak by providing people incentives to, cheaper to do your washing early morning,” said Benavente.
Here’s a breakdown:
Immediate– work with the us department of defense to activate the orote plant and appeal to larger customers to get off the grid during peak evening hours, also known as the interuptable load program.
Near-term plans – (3-6 month timeline)- activate dedeo ct plants for possible 40-60 megwatts of reserve.
Long term– (6 months to one year)- new transformer that could take 8 months to deliver but provide 40 mg of capacity. The possibility to bring back and repair cabras 3 for 39 megawatts of capacity
Future – new capacity such as the combined cycle unit plants and possible incetives for customers to conserve energy.
Benavente says that while GPA is making these plans, the grid could experience issues because of how vulnerable the system is. An example is the recent power outage Monday night, which affected several villages and was caused by two CT units going down.
In terms of load shedding, Benavente says there is a difference between load shedding and forced power outages. Benavente explains this difference to Patti Arroyo.
“Forced power outage is really when a generator goes off the line, we have no control, it’s the machine taking itself off the line,” said Benavente. “Load shedding Patti would be is when we purposely turn off a feeder.”
Benavente says he will be meeting with the GHRA and the chamber of commerce on Friday to discuss the interruptible load program.
