SUA trustees approve consent item on energy-center engine overhaul; staff reports possible bad seal batch

Stowater Utilities Authority trustees voted 5-0 March 24 to approve consent item B, which included an update on a major engine overhaul at the city's energy center. Lauren Smith, electric utility director, described the scope of the overhaul and current troubleshooting efforts.

The overhaul is the first major overhaul on the energy-center engines, Smith said. "This is the first major overhaul on our engines at the energy center," she said, adding the unit has "clocked in at about 22000 hours." Smith described disassembly down to the crankshaft, parts sent out for rebuild and metallurgy testing, and staffing pressures that required extended overtime.

"We did increase our overtime for FY25, but certainly, not enough," Smith said. She told trustees staff worked seven days a week, 12-hour days at points during the project.

Smith said the unit was reassembled and run for about eight hours but then exhibited "some exhaust leak leaking into our coolant." She said the utility worked with outside experts from Wartsila and MSHS and that the team believes a bad batch of seals in the overhaul kit may be causing the problem. "Those seals have been expedited from The Netherlands," Smith said, and were expected to arrive the next day or the following day, after which staff planned to test the unit again.

Smith also clarified the work is on unit 1 of 3. She said the authority is staffing the work with Stillwater personnel and that an ex-Wartsila technician is on staff; Wartsila personnel were brought on-site for metallurgy testing and commissioning assistance.

The presiding trustee called for the vote to approve item B after discussion; the motion passed 5-0.

The meeting record shows the trustees approved item B and moved on to other business. No additional formal directives or timelines for returning the unit to full service were specified in the meeting record.