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Fort Clara Power Station
Officially designated as
the Fort Clara Power Station, this 3.7 million dollar addition to
Santa Clara’s power
resources
will enable the city to distribute more power to residents, and it will
position them for greater power advantages as growth expands.
Principally, the new power generation system will make it possible
for the city
to assure
adequate power during peak times of consumption and in case of a
power emergency. It also will
minimize the
need for expensive power purchases on the open market and provide
opportunity for generating
power for
market sales. According to Santa Clara City Public Works Director
Jack Taylor, "We are putting
this in to
hedge our costs of power. Throughout the entire
West rates are rising. We’ll even be able to market
sales to other
users within UAMPS." The 10,800 square foot power station
will begin operation this January
with two
two-mega-watt generators and the space to increase that number to
six two-mega-watt generators as
the need
arises. The generators will be powered by natural gas, keeping costs
down and emissions at low levels.
The radial
arm transmission design of the transmission system the generators
are connected to will provide
redundancy
and increase reliability of power for users. Ken Green of
Wheeler Machinery Co. in Salt Lake City
has been
working with Santa Clara on the project and states, "I think Santa
Clara will have one of the best power generator stations around. And
they will have room to increase their ability to produce power
during years to come.
It’s going
to be great for them." The power station is financed with
a 20-year term tax-exempt bond. City officials
have made it
clear that power rates will not increase to pay for the new building
or for operation of the facility. Taylor indicates that all permits
have been acquired, and everything has been approved. They are set
to begin
operation as of January 1, 2007.
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