CUC outlines plan to restore power to Tinian within weeks but warns poles, shipping and logistics could delay full restoration

The Commonwealth Utilities Corporation told the Senate on May 13 that temporary generation from the IBB Voice of America site and three flown-in generator units could restore power to Tinian within roughly two weeks, but the utility said limited transmission poles, manufacturing and shipping delays, and logistics remain the chief obstacles to full restoration.

Betty Terlahi, CUC chief financial officer and planner, said the IBB site can contribute roughly 1–2 megawatts but that transformer limits mean CUC plans to "run 1 megawatt at a time" from IBB while bringing in additional gensets. "The arrival of the gensets is estimated within a week's time, but we're estimating that power won't be restored to about 2 weeks out because of all the logistics that have to go into setting it up," Terlahi said.

Technical advisor Dave Ketchin described the mobilization timeline for the flown-in team. "I believe it's about roughly 5 days to a week for them to mobilize to Tinian. From there, it's another few days to actually make the connections,…