July 30, 2003 – The kind of outage that left East End residents without power for about two hours Tuesday afternoon should not happen once the Water and Power Authority completes a third feeder from WAPA'S Sub Base plant to the East End. That work should be done late this year or early next year.
Right now two feeders — which are a bit like gigantic extension cords — carry electricity to the East End, Glenn Rothgeb, WAPA's chief operating officer, explained Wednesday.
Feeder No. 12 goes directly from the plant to Beltjen Road, and No. 11 goes beyond Beltjen Road to the Tutu substation near Kmart and to the East End station near the National Guard Armory, Rothgeb said. From the substations, power is then dispersed to homes in the area and to St. John.
When the cable was damaged Tuesday between Sugar Estate and Fort Mylner, power was transferred to a second cable, which was subsequently damaged too, causing power on the eastern half of the island to be out from about 3 to 5 p.m., according to Rothgeb.
The only area that remained out at 5 p.m. was near Lockhart School, he said, and it was restored just after 6 p.m.
The third feeder, which Rothgeb said would be in place by late 2003 or early 2004, will run underground, using spare conduit, from Sub Base to Beltjen Road in WAPA's existing duct banks under the Waterfront and Main Street.
From Beltjen Road the feeder will continue underground to the Roy L. Schneider Hospital and then above ground to the Tutu and East End stations.
It will also be instrumental in providing additional power that will go to St. John's new substation when it is built.
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