Lamar Utilities Board Meeting

Wind Turbines

The Lamar Utility Board approved $1,019,186.38 in purchase orders out of a total of $1,063,352.77.  Of that, $655,959.19 was for the January power purchase estimate from Arkansas River Power Authority.  The payment of monthly bills came to $896,179.94.

Light Plant Superintendent, Houssin Hourieh, explained the staff recommended the selection of Western United’s bid of $11,162.36 out of five bids for various equipment replacement including arrestors and line hardware.  Five bids were also submitted for an advanced battery analyzer that will be used for testing, maintaining and troubleshooting substation battery banks.  The $4,038.01 accepted from Border States company was a budgeted item.

Hourieh provided the system annual wind turbine operating report for 2021.  Lamar’s three turbines have generated 12,744.10 mWh’s of electricity which is 4.34% lower than what was generated in 2020.  The turbines have an average capacity factor of 31.64% which is 1.77% lower than last year.  Since the turbines were brought on line in 2003, 2010 has been the best production year, followed by 2008 and 2020.  The line crew completed the replacement of 125 feet of various underground cable at the Santa Fe substation which failed on January 21^st.
By Russ Baldwin