As of the week of March 13-17, 2023, we are now generating electricity with the first of six modular natural gas units on the Martin Drake Power Plant site.
To ensure safe, long-term operation, each unit will go online and offline over the next several weeks for testing purposes. This process will continue sequentially for each unit until late April/early May before all six units are officially commissioned.
“The next two to three months are really important,” said Shawn Timothy, energy project manager supervisor. “We’ve become very familiar with the equipment during construction, but actually conducting start-up operations and testing processes provides invaluable hands-on learning for our team.”
Installation of the units began in September 2021 on several acres that was once home to the old coal pile at Drake. All six units are scheduled to be commissioned by May 2023.
Combined, the units have a generating capacity of 162 megawatts.
Beyond being modular, the units feature a small footprint, low emissions, high reliability and low maintenance. Additionally, they are dual-fuel capable and can run on diesel – with diesel fuel stored onsite for quick access.
“These units are lightyears ahead of what it took to run an aging coal-fired power plant,” Timothy said. “They require far less staff to operate and take mere minutes to get up and running compared to the hours it took to ramp up the old Drake units. That level of efficiency is critical as we embark on our energy transition.”
Once online later this spring, the units will fulfill a key part of our strategy as we transition to an energy portfolio that does not rely on coal-based generation.
Responsible and efficient natural gas generation will remain a key part of our energy mix over the next decade. Having natural gas resources at our disposal will enable us to carefully incorporate technologies such as battery storage and renewable resources like solar and wind.
As envisioned, the six modular units will eventually be relocated from the Drake site to other parts of our electric grid to maintain system resiliency and reliability.