Mayor, staff urge planning now for new turbine as Waterloo nears capacity limits

The mayor and utility staff told the Waterloo Planning Committee on July 20 that the city needs to plan now for a replacement turbine because of a recent turbo failure, limited parts availability, and projected growth in peak electricity demand.

The mayor described recent reliability concerns and said the city would likely need to place an order with a 4–4.5 year delivery lead time if it chooses a new unit. "I don't think we can wait to determine what we're gonna do," the mayor said, urging staff to develop a recommendation. Staff reported Unit 11 recently lost a turbo; the repair is expected to be possible in-house with parts and labor roughly $10,000. Officials said spare turbos cost about $5,000 each, engines are about 30 years old, and parts are not always readily available.

Utility staff said the city currently exports power at times and receives capacity credits, but projected growth could push peak load from roughly 25 megawatts today toward an estimated 28–29 megawatts in five years under a 3% annual growth assumption. Staff described a likely replacement turbine as roughly 7.5–8 megawatts nameplate and estimated a projected cost of about $18,000,000. "Last month, our total credits, was a $104,000," said Jordan (referred to in the meeting as JR), who asked staff to provide more precise credit and contract numbers at the next finance meeting.

Committee members asked staff to return with a projection and detailed recommendations within about 60–90 days so the city can determine whether to place an order and what down payment would be required. Officials noted some ambiguity in the meeting about the term length of current credit contracts (participants referenced both 2030 and 2035); staff committed to clarify that in follow-up materials.