WAPA blackouts plague St. Thomas as generator failures mount

The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority has been unable to explain what triggered a series of blackouts across the St. Thomas-St. John District over the past three days, but the underlying problem is clear: the utility's generators are failing faster than they can be repaired.

Power went out across the district at 4 p.m. Thursday and stayed off for six hours. Another major blackout struck Friday at the same time, lasting until around 1 a.m. Saturday. A third outage hit Feeder 7A on Sunday evening. Throughout the weekend, WAPA imposed rolling blackouts on a two-hour rotation schedule.

Water service has also been disrupted in downtown Charlotte Amalie and surrounding neighborhoods. The V.I. Waste Management Authority warned that WAPA's infrastructure failures could trigger sewage overflows.

The root cause lies at the Randolph Harley Power Plant on St. Thomas, where 10 generators are supposed to supply the district. Three large diesel units are currently down for repairs. Unit 27, which had been repaired and was producing 20 megawatts as of Friday morning, failed unexpectedly at 4 p.m. Friday. Another smaller unit, Wartsila 5, has also been offline recently for maintenance.

Peak power demand for the district ranges between 54 and 62 megawatts. With Unit 27 offline and other units down, WAPA cannot meet that demand. The utility's remaining operational generators can produce only 57 megawatts combined under ideal conditions, but that assumes all units are running.

Four of WAPA's dual-fuel generators have been unable to run on cheaper propane since February 2025 due to an internal seal failure in the pump. Running them on more expensive fuel oil requires nightly maintenance to keep them operational. Those units are also running without emissions control equipment, which is not expected to be installed until the second quarter of 2027.

WAPA general counsel Dionne Sinclair said the utility is waiting for manufacturer Wartsila to provide a full report on the root cause of the generator failures. During a federal court hearing Friday, Judge Mark Kearney expressed concern that Wartsila might seek a confidentiality agreement before releasing the report.

WAPA representatives are scheduled to testify before the Senate Finance Committee today about four federally-funded backup generators for St. John that arrived in late August. Those 2.5-megawatt units remain in storage while WAPA awaits permit approval from the Coastal Zone Management division. A hearing is set for Oct. 29, with installation expected in the first or second quarter of 2027.

The utility is also seeking temporary generators for the St. Thomas plant. WAPA has identified five refurbished units, two in Texas and three in Denmark, but procurement will take 9 to 10 months after a decision is made. Judge Kearney urged WAPA to provide transparency about the Denmark units and to notify him immediately if major issues arise before the next scheduled hearing in January.