By: Mark Fritsch, General Manager
In March, the members of the Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (SMMPA) voted to approve the installation of four 9,770 kW natural gas fired reciprocating engine generating units in Owatonna. The total facility generating capacity will be 39.1 MW, which is almost 75% of our winter demand. Although the units will be owned and operated by SMMPA, they will provide significant benefit to our community.
Our discussions with SMMPA (our wholesale electric provider) which ultimately led to this project began soon after the 2010 flood destroyed our ability to generate electricity from our iconic Power Plant building. Losing the power plant made us more dependent on external sources of energy and susceptible to blackouts if we were to lose the transmission feeds to our city.
It was determined early on that it was not possible to locate new generation within the existing power plant building for a number of reasons including the fact that the internal supporting beams made it impossible to fit new generators within the building. As you know, we eventually decided to repurpose the power plant building into our new workplace.
While OPU desired to have local generation for reliability reasons, SMMPA determined that it had the need for additional generation to meet its members’ growing requirements. An extensive study determined the most cost effective and environmentally friendly option was to build a natural gas fired unit located in Owatonna, since we had the transmission infrastructure and a good source of natural gas. The project will provide more reliable, modern, and efficient electrical generation to SMMPA and its members, and allow SMMPA to decommission other less efficient fuel oil units
The facility will be located in the industrial park across the street from our substation, and construction will begin as soon as all necessary permits and approvals have been obtained. The new building, along with the installation of the four new engine-generators, is expected to be completed in the fall of 2017. The construction period is expected to last approximately 18 months. No construction will occur outside the new power plant site. The facility will sit on a 10 acre site. The total cost, including cost of financing, will be approximately $44 million.
SMMPA expects to hire three to four people to operate and maintain the facility, and the unit is expected to operate approximately 1200 to 2000 hours per year. Silencers on the stacks will keep the noise level low, and oxidation catalysts will reduce CO and other emissions.
The addition of this generation station is very positive for Owatonna and I am pleased that SMMPA has decided to move forward with the project.
The following Fairmont Energy Station pictures are similar to what is being planned for us, except we won’t have a water tower next to ours.
