In last year’s July- August bill insert we told you about the generator fault in Unit One at the Wells Project. The damage from the fault was too great to repair in place, so we had to rebuild the generator. Rebuilding a generator entails replacing the stator winding with new coils, restacking the stator core with new electrical steel and re-insulating and refurbishing the rotor poles.
As a reminder the Wells Hydroelectric Project has ten generating units. Each unit has a turbine and a generator. The pressure of river water on turbine blades spins the turbine shaft and the generator rotor. The rotor poles, which are large electro-magnets, move past the stationary copper windings in the generator stator producing high voltage electricity.
We are happy to report Unit One is back in service. Based on the age and test results of the other nine generators, we have determined they are nearing the end of their useful service lives and should be rebuilt to avoid an unexpected outage of a unit.
We learned a lot rebuilding Unit One. This knowledge will be useful as we rebuild the other nine generating units. We anticipate these preventative maintenance actions will keep the Wells Hydroelectric Project running smoothly well into the future and continue to provide low-cost reliable electric service to the residents of Douglas County.
It doesn’t take money to save money on summertime energy bills. Here are some things you can do for free to slash your electric bill:
