|
October 14, 2008 |
Contact: Rae Todd 970-229-5255 |
toddr@prpa.org (Platte River Power) |
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
Rawhide Energy Station Shut Down for Planned Maintenance Platte River Also Receives Notification of Award for Rawhide FORT COLLINS, COLO - Platte River Power Authority turned off Unit 1 at the Rawhide Energy Station on September 26 for planned maintenance on the 24-year-old power plant. Planned maintenance is now done every three years with funds allocated to the maintenance accumulated in the off years to lessen any rate impacts to Platte River's owner communities. Maintenance goals include zero injuries, cost at or below budget ($26.3 million) and bringing Unit 1 back on-line on or before October 31. This work has been in planning for about two years and includes over 600 individual jobs and over 40 contractors employing more than 400 workers over the four weeks. Workers at Rawhide also include about 30 women from Platte River and contractor staffs. "We intend to perform all possible repairs and preventative maintenance to ensure Rawhide maintains world class plant safety, reliability, efficiency and environmental compliance," said Jason Frisbie, Division Manager, Power Production at Platte River. This focus on maintaining the plant in top condition is paying off as Frisbie and Platte River employees learned this week. Power Magazine named Rawhide one of the top five coal-fired power plants (www.powermag.com). Maintenance will be performed on mechanical ($5.2 million) and electrical ($800,000) systems. Major capital projects include replacement of air heater baskets ($1.2 million). The current baskets are at the ends of their lives (13 years) and replacement will improve plant efficiency by recovering waste heat; Replacement of the high pressure/intermediate pressure turbine rotor ($8.4 million with $4.5 million this year). This should improve plant efficiency by approximately 100 Btu/kWh and add about 4 MW (enough to power about 2,000 homes*) to Unit 1’s generating capacity (contractor guarantee); replacement of main steam and reheat piping ($1.1 million) as part of risk management as there have been recent industry failures of this type -- and age -- of high pressure/high temperature piping; and, an expansion of the reheat pendent surface area ($900,000). The expansion is required to obtain boiler/turbine upgrade efficiency balance. (see sidebar 1 information for details of each project area.) When Rawhide Unit 1 was started up for commercial operation in 1984, its capacity rating was 262 MW. Its current 274 MW capacity is largely due to technology upgrades in turbine blade design and operations. Platte River has received recognition for its operations over the past decade. (See sidebar 2 for details) * An average home has a peak power need of about 2.0 kW. Platte River Power Authority generates and delivers reliable, low-cost and environmentally responsible electricity to its owner communities of Estes Park, Fort Collins, Longmont and Loveland, Colorado, where it is distributed by each municipal utility to residents and businesses. For more information, please visit, www.prpa.org.
Sidebar 1 Mechanical Maintenance Projects Electrical Projects Sidebar 2 – Platte River recognition •
1998 -- Platte River Power and Fort Collins
Utilities become first Colorado utilities to offer
wind energy to customers -30- |