WAPA says island-wide outage that lasted 3 hours was due to generator shutting down

CHRISTIANSTED — Hundreds of households and thousands of people on St. Croix lost electricity for hours after a generator shut down early this afternoon, the Virgin Islands Water & Power Authority said.

“As of approximately 12:30 p.m., there is a major electrical service interruption affecting all customers in the St. Croix district following the loss of generation capacity at the Estate Richmond Power Plant due to loss of generation unit 20,” WAPA said. “Plant personnel are actively working to restore service to all feeders as quickly and safely as possible. Thank you for your patience.”

WAPA’s Interim CEO Ashley Bryan cut an apology message on Facebook for the St. Thomas-St. John district about one hour before a partial restoration was salvaged for St. Croix, but did not specifically mention the Big Island in her message.

“Unit 20 has been brought back online,” WAPA said in a 3:15 p.m. alert on Facebook. “The following feeders have been restored: 5A, 1B, and 8B. WAPA Plant Personnel continue to actively work safely to restore service to all customers. Please note some water customers may also be experiencing little to no water pressure due to the current electrical outage.”