A few minutes after 6 a.m. Wednesday, Bethel, Oscarville, and Napakiak went dark. For the third time in two weeks, an electrical brownout cut power to the communities. The culprit was same. The generator engine that's failed each time did so again.
Lenny Welch, AVEC Operations Manager in Bethel, says he doesn’t know what the problem is or why it keeps happening, but his crew is troubleshooting options. A part is en route to Bethel for the system’s electrical panel, which might or might not be the issue, and should arrive Thursday evening.
Welch says that after the first two brownouts, his crew shut down the problematic engine for upgrades. When they started it up, it ran for 14 hours before shutting down again.
Bethel has six generator engines, but only four are working. Of the two that aren’t, one is the engine that’s been causing the brownouts and the other is being upgraded. Bethel needs three functioning engines to deliver power to itself, Oscarville, and Napakiak.
