A special meeting has been called by the Ames City Council for a request to approve the repair costs of a unit in one of the two steam turbine-generator units in the Ames Power Plant. 

The meeting will start at 12:45 p.m. Tuesday in the Ames City Council Chambers at City Hall. 

The council’s special meeting will be for a resolution to approve “Change Order No. 2 to with HPI, LLC. — an engineering consultant based in Houston, Texas —  for Unit #7 Turbine Generator Overhaul in the amount of $225,361.55,” as stated in the council’s agenda.

According to the City of Ames meeting packet, the Power Plant has two steam turbine-generator unit which is disassembled periodically for inspection and repair — also known as “open, clean and close.”

On June 11, 2019, a $411,464 contract with HPI, LLC. was approved for the “open, clean and close” procedure. The first change order approved $15,482 for more electrical tests that were recommended by General Electric (GE) field technical services and performed on the Unit 7 generator. 

After the “Open, clean and close” procedure, Unit 7 steam turbine-generator required additional work as HPI, the contractor, and GE, found several key components to be worn and damaged. 

The rotors of the Unit 7 generator has to be shipped to a Missouri turbine repair shop for thorough inspection and tests as well as replacement blade rows. Along with the rotators, the diaphragm is waiting to be shipped to Missouri for major repair work and inspection. 

In order to perform repairs on the nozzle, the Curtis wheel and diaphragms, craftspersons must be shipped to Ames. The nozzle needs six partitions repaired, the Curtis wheels needs nine vanes and Stages 2, 3, and 4 have foreign object damage requiring repair.

Unit 7’s steam turbine repairs are “critical to restore the performance and integrity of the unit,” as stated in the City Manager’s recommendation to the council.