The Satala Power Plant building and facility replacement project recently held their ground breaking ceremony, and the estimated cost for the project is $12 Million according to the contractors.

This project is designed and built to accommodate 23Mega Watts of diesel generators consisting of seven diesel generators and their associated auxiliary equipment, black start engines, switch gears and distribution feeder power grid system, with a centralized control room and related supporting facilities.

Louis Berger Group based in Washington DC is the contractor for this project, while the subcontractor is local construction company, Paramount Builders.

The generators, switch gear and auxiliaries are expected to cost about $36million, of which 90% is funded by FEMA and 10% is funded by ASPA/ASG.

The ASPA tieline system also kicked off last week, to allow interconnection of the Satala Power plant with the Tafuna Power Plant.

“In the event of scheduled or unscheduled generator maintenance, power can be transferred in either direction on the timeline system” according to the program which accompanied the groundbreaking and tieline announcements.

“The tieline interconnection is also necessary for a more efficient operation as load sharing between the two power plants will require fewer generators to operate and meet the total demand. Additionally, the tieline system allows two plants to operate in parallel, which increases flexibility and reliability of the system and also allows for paralleling of feeders during line maintenance work.”

The Contractor for the tieline project is Pacific Engineering Projects Ltd. Costs will run about $2million with 90% from FEMA and 10% from ASPA/ASG.

Attorney General Talauega Eleasalo Ale, who attended the ceremony, said the outcome of this project is an important one as electricity is very much needed. He said back when he was a young child, the electricity would go on and off, but thanks to ASPA, nowadays this hardly happens. He said this project will benefit everyone, not just the eastern residents.

Speaking of behalf of Governor Lolo M. Moliga, Talauega thanked ASPA for being keen on the project.

Tuaolo Manaia Fruean, who spoke on behalf of Maoputasi County, repeated an observation he made earlier this month when the Segaula, Manu’a’s new boat arrived. He noted that it’s been 37 years since governors of American Samoa have been voted into office, and just 21 months since the Lolo and Lemanu Administration began — yet they have accomplished so much, which could have been done over the past 20 years.

At the time, he said, “The question that is posed is why were these projects not implemented during the past administrations? We see the love for the people in this current administration and the question that is posed again — why did we have to wait until now to have these projects? What happened 20 years ago?”