Bureau of Reclamation seeks comment on proposed overhaul

The Bureau of Reclamation is asking for comments from interested parties on a planned overhaul of 18 generators in the left and right powherhouses of Grand Coulee Dam.

The generators have been in service for some 70 years and need repair, the bureau has said. Doing the work would keep them making electricity for another 30 years.

In a draft environmental analysis, the bureau lays out its preferred of three alternatives: Do the upgrades on two generators at a time and complete the work between 2018 and 2029.

Another alternative would extend the work by six or seven years, but only work on one generator at a time.

A third option would simply continue on without the maintenance.

“Many of the plants’ principle components are being operated far beyond their intended service life, and Reclamation needs to modernize and overhaul aging components,” the draft EA reads. The generators G1 through G18 show “problems stemming from age and wear that result in increased hardware failures and forced outages, and increasingly challenging repairs resulting from obsolescence and lack of spare parts. In order to avoid unplanned outages for repair, Reclamation proposes to address the needed overhaul in a planned approach,” the document states.