LUB Gets Recap on Power Outages

Wind Turbines

On Sunday, July 17, turbine T-3 tripped offline due to a generator fault.  The turbine was scheduled for generator main bearing and collector ring replacement and IPS Wind Turbine Services was on site as of Monday, July 25th to effect repairs and replacements.

Light Plant Superintendent Houssin Hourieh also reviewed the power loss from Tuesday, July 19th when, at approximately 7:34pm, Tri-State G & T’s 230kv line tripped causing the DC tie station, all wind and gas generation and the power plant’s 69kv tie line breakers to all trip open.  Light Plant crews eventually traced the problem and de-activated an underfrequency relay which allowed power to be restored at about 10:45pm for northern Lamar, Wiley, McClave, Bristol, Hartman and Holly.  The superintendent said there were some brief outages from the weekend rain and wind storm, but despite and down tree limbs, the outages were negligible.

Hourieh noted the plant’s three wind turbines were generating electricity for the first half of the year at 35.51% which is about 16.9% higher than the same period last year.  ARPA’s Springfield turbine continues to outperform others with an output for this period at 19.58% more power production with an average capacity factor of 49.54%.

The utility board approved $40,439.85 in purchase orders from a total of $51,901.22 for June, according to Hourieh.  Bills for the month amounted to $1,000,182.38 including $892,459.69 to Arkansas River Power Authority for estimated monthly power purchases.

Blazer Electric was the low bidder at $20,263.15 for stock inventory, LED light fixtures used to maintain street and yard lighting.

The June financial statement notes that cash is down $263,572 from May and accounts receivable increased by $329,288.  Total operating revenue for the month is $1,277,576 with operating costs of $1,272,315 resulting in gross operating income of $5,261.  When the non-operating revenues and expenses are taken into consideration, there is a net loss for the month of $94,669.

Total operating revenues for the year are $6,456,843 and total operating costs are $6,085,307 resulting in gross operating income of $371,536.  When the non-operating revenues and expenses are considered, there is a net loss of $448,111 year to date.

When compared to 2021 revenues from retail sales are up approximately $77,737 or 1% comparing June 2022 to 2021 and overall operating expenses are up approximately $258,472 or 4% resulting in a new loss of $448,111 for the year.
By Russ Baldwin