BOUNTIFUL — Major components of a city power plant renovation plan are being finalized.
After months of waiting, two new turbines for the city’s power plant on 200 West have been put into place. Now, work to get those power-generating sources situated and tested will begin.
The turbines arrived last week, said Allen Johnson, director of Bountiful City Light & Power, so now officials can finalize work on the second phase of the $25 million project.
Johnson said work is still on schedule for having the new facility online by July.
City officials on Tuesday approved five expenses related to the project.
Council members voted 5-0 to approve spending $35,380 to hire a crane service to load and unload the new turbines, then approved a contract with a heavy hauling service to transport the turbines from the Wasatch Electric yard in Salt Lake City to Davis County for $37,585.
As well as lifting and transporting the new machines, grouting for the new generators will be $9,095 once the turbines are joined and leveled. Then utility officials can put lube oil into the units.
Each turbine will require 1,237.5 gallons of lube oil, and city officials approved spending $69,095 to buy the lubricant from a Midvale supplier.
Oil will have to be filtered before the units can be subject to startup, and officials approved a contract with Western Filtration of Salt Lake City to do the work for $19,325 for one week.
The new turbines will be installed at a newly redesigned plant that currently features internal combustion engines that burn a mix of diesel and natural gas.
The plan is to replace five of the older engines with the new turbines and to keep two other engines in operation.
The new turbines will be operated using natural gas and are expected to significantly cut plant emissions.
Officials approved a bond package for $15.2 million of the project cost, backed by a 5 percent rate increase to customers of Bountiful City Light & Power that went into effect Dec. 1, 2010.
The remaining portion of funding for the project will come from the city’s capital reserve funds.
Johnson said he hopes to start commissioning the new turbines in May and to use June to test the units in time for a July schedule to go online.
Work has included removing two sections of the BCL&P building at 253 South and 200 West and constructing new buildings.
The new structure is tied into the remainder of the existing building on the corner of 300 South and 200 West. An old lumber building on 200 South was demolished, and a new dispatch and shop building was built at 200 South and 200 West.
The result is a long building running north to south along 200 West.
Aric Jensen, city planner, said efforts have been made to keep the long structure from looking like a fortress.
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