Nice chat with Bob Boyer today
- Thread starter J!m
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Thank you for your phone call, last night, Bob. I learned about more than just tape-related stuff in our discussion., even though, initially, the topic began there. Got to find out more of Bob's future plans and how we are, presently, coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and Bob's past work history, which is quite interesting.
Nando.
Nando.
- Joined
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Here is a picture of the old Pelton Wheel Turbine circa 1947. Sure - at most, it only develops 1.9 MW of electricity - of which we need about 400 kW to operate our site and the excess power generation is sold to BC Hydro. The electricity sold, equates to about 3/4 million $ per year. One of my duties is to operate the Pelton Wheel, do daily checks on it and help with yearly maintenance. As impressive as the old Pelton Wheel is, the infrastructure required to feed water to the Turbine is much more impressive.
Nando.
Nando.
Nice one guys!
Speaking of power plants, my last company did an on site coating job in a LBGT facility in Minnesota in February I think it was... nothing but corn fields all around... and cold. We worked alternated 13 hour shifts, so we had an hour overlap on the handoff at each end.
One highlight was the ports-potties. You had a choice: one had a heater and the other had a light. Take your pick.
Our coating improved compressor efficiency about 15% if I recall, so imagine the turbine was suddenly 15% larger. There were three or four other turbines at this “farm” but I don’t believe we ever went back to do the others for some reason.
Speaking of power plants, my last company did an on site coating job in a LBGT facility in Minnesota in February I think it was... nothing but corn fields all around... and cold. We worked alternated 13 hour shifts, so we had an hour overlap on the handoff at each end.
One highlight was the ports-potties. You had a choice: one had a heater and the other had a light. Take your pick.
Our coating improved compressor efficiency about 15% if I recall, so imagine the turbine was suddenly 15% larger. There were three or four other turbines at this “farm” but I don’t believe we ever went back to do the others for some reason.
While we're talking hydro power, here's a shot of mine from a tour TVA was giving to other utility execs back in the 1990's. It's Raccoon Mountain Pump Storage Plant, just outside Chattanooga
A peak load provider, Raccoon Mountain can wheel 1600 MW of electricity for summer or winter peaks as needed. The turbines are also pumps. Water is pumped from the Tennessee River up to a lake on top of Raccoon Mountain, several hundred feet above this powerhouse and held there until needed. It is then released back down through the pipes, through the turbines and back into the Tennessee River. It was a massive project for TVA in the 1970s, being completed in 1978, IIRC.
This observation deck is just above the turbine floor and used to be accessible to the public from the visitor center on top of the mountain via the damndest elevator ride you ever took short of the World Trade Center. Sadly, after 9/11 this elevator and observation deck are closed to the public because this is a seriously cool piece of engineering.
A peak load provider, Raccoon Mountain can wheel 1600 MW of electricity for summer or winter peaks as needed. The turbines are also pumps. Water is pumped from the Tennessee River up to a lake on top of Raccoon Mountain, several hundred feet above this powerhouse and held there until needed. It is then released back down through the pipes, through the turbines and back into the Tennessee River. It was a massive project for TVA in the 1970s, being completed in 1978, IIRC.
This observation deck is just above the turbine floor and used to be accessible to the public from the visitor center on top of the mountain via the damndest elevator ride you ever took short of the World Trade Center. Sadly, after 9/11 this elevator and observation deck are closed to the public because this is a seriously cool piece of engineering.
Let’s see how far off track we can get this thread...
2006 it seems I was up there.
And I wrote an article during the trip which paved the way for my work with the magazine fa few years:
https://www.drivetheglobe.com/jim-leach-article
still looking for the hydro interior photos I know were taken...
2006 it seems I was up there.
And I wrote an article during the trip which paved the way for my work with the magazine fa few years:
https://www.drivetheglobe.com/jim-leach-article
still looking for the hydro interior photos I know were taken...
Yeah, when I went looking for the photos of Raccoon Mountain I knew I took for my stock file, I found I had not saved them to CD. I donated the transparencies to the UTC Library a few years ago and they haven't gotten everything online yet so I can't give you the pristine, no-people-in-the-picture architectural shot of that turbine chamber but it is second only in amazine to standing on the turbine deck of Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, I can assure you. Not much beats 3300 MW of electrical generation capacity.
And, in the spirit of wrecking a thread while honoring John Prine at the same time, here's my hero shot of Paradise Fossil Plant, which as of this year, operates no more.
And, in the spirit of wrecking a thread while honoring John Prine at the same time, here's my hero shot of Paradise Fossil Plant, which as of this year, operates no more.