Work on a $1.2 million repair of a city power-generating turbine housed at the Winfield Fairgrounds should be finished by late June or early July, just in time for the hottest summer months when it’s usually needed.
Routine annual maintenance done in the fall turned up considerable damage to the rotor blades of the turbine, which runs on natural gas. The cause of the damage has not been determined.
"We really have no idea," says Bob Porter, who runs the city’s power and water departments. "There had to be some sort of foreign object but we’ve found nothing."
The turbine is important to the city and local power customers because it’s capable of generating about 12 megawatts of electricity. For most of the year, it’s cheaper for Winfield to buy it’s power on contract and only generate when supplemental energy is needed.
That’s usually in July or August when residents are firing up window air conditioners and central air units to cool their homes. Having the ability to produce power within the city is very important then, Porter says.
"It’s critical that we’re able to generate at those times," he says.
Which is why the city’s electric department has painstakingly worked to repair the damaged rotor blades. The 10-ton rotor assembly was shipped to a company in Pennsylvania to be rebuilt. That required a crane and a lot of care.
Porter described the turbine as "basically a jet a engine strapped to concrete." Blades operate with extreme low tolerances, he said, and the margin for error is nearly non existent.
"I’m not kidding you when I say that we’ve been cleaning every part ten times as we reassemble everything," Porter says. "That’s no joke."
Insurance proceeds should cover all but about $250,000 of the repair costs, city officials say. City crews have did some of the work reblading outer rotor blades.
Test runs of the rehabbed turbine should start by late June. The fairgrounds generator should be fully functional and ready to go back online by early July.
The turbine is the smaller of two the city uses for power generation.
