The Vaitupu station generator capacity consists of 400kW PV/2,880kWhr of storage capacity / 260kVa diesel standby generator.
The station has been faced with some technical problem with the standby generator, not starting up. After several attempts to rectify the fault, it was found that the fuel pump has failed.
The power supply is now depended on the solar PV and the number of hours for the supply of power has been reduced to 17hrs per day from 6am to 11pm in the night.
On the 19th May 2021 the Pule Kaupule wrote a letter to the Government informing of the electricity situation on the island and for Motufoua Student not to return to the school for the start of the Term II.
The TEC tried to rectify the situation, and search if there are standby generators available. Two new standby generators were found, from the Ministry of Health, the generator of a capacity of 275kVa and a 65kVa generator for the Environment department for the Media and the National Control Centre (NCC).
The TEC technicians Messers Paisi Teuki and Viliamu Teipauli were deployed on the MLC Moiteava to Vaitupu for the installation of this new genset and the Motufoua standby generator. Reports received that the generator has been in operation since the 5th June 2021.
The generator is yet to be programmed to operate automatically; so it can be called when it is needed.