Municipal Light Dept. plans to repair north turbine

Credit: By Phyllis Booth | The Landmark | 2016-02-25 | www.thelandmark.com ~~

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Princeton Municipal Light department Manager, Brian Allen told light commissioners at the Feb. 17 meeting that the damage to the north turbine [windmill] is isolated to the one gear they knew was broken.

A company from West Virginia doing a fluoroscope exam found the problem, said Allen, which is with the high speed synchro gear.

Allen said he got a quote for the parts and replacement of the parts with the company sending one technician and two PMLD crew members would assist. The quote from R.M. Wilson is $25,000 for two days for parts, labor and travel, said Allen. PMLD Foreman Chris Courville thinks it will take longer than that, so it’s not a firm quote.

“That’s for two eight-hour days. I’m building in some money and putting it at $30,000,” he said.

The other cost is the oil which has to be changed, and the gear box has to be flushed, said Allen. A company in Willmington quoted me a price of $5,000 for that and about $9,500 for the oil for the machine, that includes draining the oil, and flushing the gear box, he said. The oil has to be filtered, heated and pumped back into the machine, said Allen.

“Another company, from South Dakota quoted $35,000 for the work, so I’m leaning toward going local,” said Allen. “To be on the safe side I’m estimating the work in the $50,000-$60,000 range and need to know if the board is comfortable with that.”

The south turbine produced 419 megawatts hours of energy last month and 1,000 more megawatt hours than last year.

“We know we have to spend this money,” said Allen, “So where can we cut elsewhere.”

Commissioners approved the repair plan and Allen said he hoped to have the turbine up and running in March. “I’m thankful there were no other damages.”

In other business, PMLD Commissioners voted to terminate their membership in the Massachusetts Municipal Light Department Wind Energy Cooperative Cooperation.

Commissioners also approved changes to PMLD’s General Terms and Conditions for Electric Service, primarily related to fees for meter disconnects and reconnects, finance charges for overdue accounts, returned checks and meter changes.

Source: By Phyllis Booth | The Landmark | 2016-02-25 | www.thelandmark.com

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