5.2. ERMUSR 08-12-2003 Elk River 1.
Municipal Utilities
322 King.Avenue phone: 763.441.2020
Elk River.%IN ;5330 iy:Th3.-HL8099
July 28, 2003
To: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission
John Dietz
Jerry Takle
James Tralle
From: Bryan C. Adams
Subject: Annual URGE Tests
Elk River Municipal Utilities operates and maintains 4 diesel generation units at our
power plant. These units are contracted to Great River Energy through a Power
Transaction Agreement at the current price of$2.75/kw/month based upon the proven
capacity from the annual URGE test. The current contract expires October 31. 2003.
The chances of increasing. the payment amount is small. The attached letter reflects this
years URGE test results. The URGE test results have steadily increased the past few
years due to more maintenance and better training. Again your staff of Mike Price,
Adam Freiberg. and Steve Ziemer did a great job performing this URGE test. The
capacity results from this test will result in $343.431 in annual payments from Great
River Energy.
Units one and two are 1948-550kw, black start Worthington units. Unit #2 needs some
major work or should be retired. The main bearings are badly worn along with the timing
gear. Ignoring the cost ramifications, it has been staffs desire to retire unit#2, salvage
the parts and use them in unit #1 when necessary, and replace this unit with a larger
engine. The plant substation has a capacity of approximately 12.9MVA. We have
physical room to replace unit #2 with a?000kw machine.
Installed costs for a good used engine/generator is in the 400kw area or $800.000.
Annual revenue from our current Great River Energy agreement at $2.75/kw would be
$66,000 or a payback of approximately 20 years at 5% annual interest. Not a good
investment financially.
Another 21\4W of capacity to keep the essentials of Elk River in power would be nice to
have under our control in case of a total power grid failure. We would then have 12MW
at the plant and 2.4MW at the Landfill. Our current peaks are 38±MW summer and
25±MW winter. Rolling blackouts will still be necessary. On the other hand, I am not
sure if another 2MW is all that significant if we can not carry our entire load. Do you
have any other thoughts on this issue?
Elk River
Municipal Utilities
322 King Avenue phone: 763.441.2020
Elk River,MN 55330 Fax:763.441.8099
July 25, 2003
Mr. Sam Kokkinen
Great River Energy Association
P.O. Box 800
Elk River, MN 55330
Dear Sam;
The annual URGE tests were run on the diesel units under our Power Transaction
Agreement on February 9, 2002. The results were as follows:
Unit Name Plate Capacity Date Run Beginning Time Ending Time Kwh Generated Kw Capacity
1 500 Kw 7/24/03 10:00 11:00 631 Kwh 631 Kw
2 500 Kw 7/24/03 12:00 13:00 616 Kwh 616 Kw
3 3000 Kw 7/23/03 13:00 14:00 3424 Kwh 3424 Kw
4 5000 Kw 7/24/03 08:00 09:00 5736 Kwh 5736 Kw
Total 10,407 Kw
If you have any questions about the above, do not hesitate to call.
Best r ards,
Bry C. Adams, P.E.
Ge eral Manager
cc: Glenn Sundeen
David Berg
Patricia Hemza