Work on Wartsila Project Stalled Due To Dispute Over Amounts Owed

On Tuesday, the Public Services Commission learned that no work is being done when it comes to getting the Water and Power Authority’s four newest Wärtsilä generators online and functional.

Despite the new generators having been touted for years as key to WAPA’s thrust for increased energy efficiency and lower operating costs, a question by PSC ex-officio member Senator Carla Joseph revealed that work had been stalled for months over an ongoing contractual dispute.

PSC consultant Jim Madden told Ms. Joseph that only the three initial units were currently in operation. “The next four, which have been on island since 2021, have not been put into operation,” he disclosed.

Ms. Joseph pressed further, noting that these units “were supposed to be operable sometime last year, and they moved it to sometime this year.” In June 2023, when one of the units was successfully energized, WAPA signaled that the HUD-funded project to install the new generators would have been completed by August of that year.