Costs go up about $3 million on Priest Rapids refurbishment

EPHRATA — The need for more parts and keeping the project on track will bump up the cost of refurbishing turbines and generators at Priest Rapids Dam to about $96.116 million.

Grant County PUD commissioners will consider approving $3 million in additional expenses for the project, which is expected to take about 10 years. Currently the first turbine-generator unit is being refurbished and repaired. Total project cost will be $96 million.

Utility district engineer Molly Hill detailed the expenses in a report at the regular commission meeting Tuesday.

The dam’s turbines and generators are 50 years old, and like any 50-year-old machinery, some parts can be reused but need work, while others need to be replaced. Each turbine-generator unit should take about a year to redo.

While the first turbine is being refurbished, engineers discovered some additional work that will add about two months to the timeline, Hill said. The extra time didn’t affect the first turbine, she said, but it would add up over the life of the project.

To avoid that, engineers proposed buying spare parts that would be used on the second turbine, and the refurbished parts from the second turbine would be used on the third turbine. “I guess I would call it leapfrogging,” Hill said.

That would cost about $2.483 million overall, she said; the engineers also analyzed the cost of staying with the original plan. That was about $4.383 million.

Buying new would mean the PUD would save about $900,000 in parts rehabilitation costs, Hill said.

In answer to a question from commissioner Dale Walker, PUD engineer Stuart Hammond said the $2.483 million would pay for the parts on the remaining nine units.

Engineers also proposed buying a new “operating ring” for the second turbine for about $65,000. Refurbishing the part for the first turbine was about $60,000, and could’ve affected the project timeline, Hill said. Commissioner Larry Schaapman said it might be worth it to buy new operating rings for all nine remaining units, since the cost is about the same for a new part. “I mean, I can fix up an old VW, but I’ve still got an old VW,” he said.

Hammond said the engineers wanted to wait and see the outcome of the refurbishment and how the new operating ring worked before making a recommendation for the other turbines.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.