Repairs Planned for Light Plant Turbine

Lamar Utility Board members approved the low bid for the gearbox replacement project for the T-2 turbine east of Lamar. Metal filings were detected last month in the gearbox oil and further use of the turbine would result in more costly damage.  As it is, the project comes with a hefty price tag of $330,988.

There were four bids submitted with the board selecting GE Renewables for the project with their low bid. The highest was $450,926.  Board chairman, Rick Beard mentioned some of the costs involved for the project, highlighting the need for a crane, “It’s hard to believe that alone will cost $87,550,” he stated, adding in a half-serious manner, “We should buy one and we could pay the cost of it in only ten rentals!”  The bids for labor and mobilizing crews and equipment ranged between $28,000 and $48,000 for the project which should last about a week.  Work is expected to begin on June 21^st.

Approvals were given for replacing stock inventory including $3,028 for 50 braceless crossarms for power poles and $8,169 for wire/cable. Discussion also focused on costs to replace the plant’s obsolete automated meter reading system (AMR) with automated metering infrastructure (AMI).  Light Plant Susperintendent, Houssin Hourieh, told the board that four vendors were contacted and Sensus, a company that most closely meets the light plant’s requirements appeared to be the right choice.  The initial cost for the first year of installation and switch-over is $100,174 which is budgeted for the year.

Hourieh noted that sales of electricity for May were up by 0.53% and revenue increased by 0.24% while the customer based added 20 new accounts. On another note he stated, “We had a short power outage Sunday evening that lasted about 15 minutes.  A line of severe thunderstorms passed through the Las Animas area, taking out a line in that area.”  He said the Lamar area was affected temporarily and he asked the main supplier to take us off that line and be re-routed from another source.  As of Tuesday work was still being done to replace the downed lines in the storm area.

By Russ Baldwin