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Murray power leaders outline master plan, turbine upgrades and pipe repairs
Summary
Murray City’s Power Department presented a quarterly update July 1 describing a new five-year master plan, SCADA-based system modeling, upcoming rate-study work, turbine control upgrades pending an air-quality stack test, replacement fleet and building plans, and needed repairs to a five-mile hydro penstock and the Sandy siphon.
Murray City’s Power Department told council July 1 it is moving forward on a long-delayed master plan and several major infrastructure projects that officials say are essential to maintaining local generation and grid reliability.
Greg Ballant, the department’s presenter, said the city has never had a formal power-department master plan in his 17 years and is pursuing a five-year plan built on a system model. Ballant said staff considered an external modeling software (about $100,000) but opted to develop modeling within an upgraded SCADA platform, with the SCADA-based model expected to be available starting in September. "We never had a master plan for the power department ever," Ballant said.
Ballant described setbacks and next steps: the contracted engineer who was working on modeling was diagnosed with terminal cancer and died; city staff have since met with a replacement firm and are negotiating a contract to finish the modeling work. He said the SCADA-based model and the consultant work will together inform a full five-year plan.
The department also plans a full cost-of-service and rate study this fall to reassess rate classes, the power-cost adjustment and net-metering rules. Ballant told council the study will also examine potential time-of-use electric-vehicle rates. "We don't anticipate needing a big rate increase again like we did before, but this will tell us that," he said.
On capital projects, Ballant reported two 50 MVA transformers have been ordered for the central substation with multi-year lead times and that the substation will be rebuilt in place. He outlined turbine-control upgrades at the city’s generating plant; Unit 3 is close to readiness, but production depends on passing a state Division of Air Quality stack test scheduled for late July. "Once they give us the okay, then we'll be up and running," Ballant said.
Ballant also announced the hire of a new resource manager, Corey Kowalski, to manage summer peaking resources and contingency plans. The department plans to build a replacement building to house a 105-foot bucket truck and warehouse materials; Ballant estimated the truck replacement at roughly three-quarters of $1,000,000.
Concerning hydro facilities, Ballant described a roughly five-mile concrete-and-steel penstock that supplies the hydro plant. He said the system is producing about 2.76 megawatts currently (below historical peak) and that crews have tried several patching approaches. The city is evaluating options that include full realignment with concrete, which Ballant called likely expensive. Ballant also said the Sandy siphon (about 762 feet) is degrading and has holes; per an existing contract he stated the city is responsible for repairs and realignment.
Councilmembers asked technical questions about testing, contingency plans and site visits; Ballant invited council members to tour the hydro plant and corporate yard to see the equipment firsthand. The presentation did not include final dollar totals for all projects beyond specific equipment cost references and pending procurement lead times.
