Guam's $600M Ukudu power plant falls short of expectations

Load shedding continues as Guam Power Authority struggles to fill gaps in power generation

By Mar-Vic Cagurangan

The Ukudu Power Plant, a $600 million undertaking touted as the solution to Guam's unstable power generation, is currently operating below 50 percent capacity due to broken combustion turbines.

Exacerbating Ukudu’s reduced output, several generating units owned by the Guam Power Authority are either undergoing scheduled maintenance or getting unexpected repairs.

The twofold blow has tightened generation reserves in recent weeks and prompted a new wave of load shedding, GPA said.

The 198MW combined-cycle Ukudu Power Plant was commissioned to replace GPA's aging power plants in Cabras, which generated a combined capacity of 50MW that was lost following their permanent shutdown.

But with its three combustion turbines currently offline for repairs, the Ukudu plant is currently generating only 90MW to the grid.

Ukudu is operated by Guam Ukudu Power, a subsidiary of Korea Electric Power Corp., under a 25-year built-operate-transfer agreement.

The plant was switched on in December 2025 after several years of delay due to multiple factors, including significant damage from Typhoon Mawar in 2023, the year it was originally scheduled to be commissioned.

GPA acknowledged that Ukudu's unstable performance has raised questions about its long-term reliability.

“The issues identified during the plant’s early operating period are not out of the ordinary, but they must be corrected now to support reliable performance over its operating life," said John M. Benavente, GPA general manager.

“We understand why customers have questions when a new plant experiences extended repairs; some adjustments and repairs during the early operation of

 a new generating facility are expected, but that does not lessen the importance of addressing them," Benavente said.

The privately operated plant will be transferred to GPA upon expiration of the 25-year agreement.

"The priority is to identify and correct these issues now so Ukudu performs

reliably over the long term," Benavente said.

To address the subsequent shortfall, GPA said it "is working to restore unavailable capacity by completing maintenance and overhauls on generating units that had been deferred during the previous capacity shortage, thereby keeping those units available."

This was not the first breakdown of the Ukudu plant. During the test run before its official launch, it encountered mechanical issues.

On June 10, 2025, Ukudu’s steam turbine generator experienced vibrations that damaged the rotor, necessitating repair at the manufacturer’s overseas factory.

On Sept. 3, 2025, one of the three gas turbine generators was damaged and had to be shipped to the manufacturer’s factory in Sweden for repairs.

The Public Utilities Commission recently approved GPA's petition to authorize the payment of $6.148 million to Guam Ukudu Power for the energy produced by the power plant during the precommissioning test period.

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On Aug. 18, available generation capacity decreased from 259MW to approximately 216MW while emergency repairs were performed on Piti

Unit 8, GPA said.

While the repair was targeted to be completed on the same day, the unit experienced an additional issue and didn’t return to service until around 9 p.m. Wednesday.

GUP initially took the steam turbine offline on June 23 to address operating issues, with plans to get it back online by July 8. 

"Upon completion of the repairs, they identified issues with the steam turbine turning gear spring supports that also required replacement," GPA said. "Because these parts are special-order components, the steam turbine outage has been extended to approximately Aug. 28."

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