Alabama Power McIntosh Turbine Offline for an Additional 18 Months

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). Alabama Electric Cooperative Incorporated’s (Birmingham, Alabama) McIntosh Station Unit 01 Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) was taken offline on May 20, 2006, for rotor and generator failure. Officials have stated that the Dresser Rand U2-2440 is a unique unit, and lead-time for replacement parts takes eighteen months because the parts are custom made.

The unique 110-megawatt (MW) CAES unit and its twin turbines were designed by a joint venture between Dresser Rand (NYSE:DRC) (Houston, Texas) and Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI) (Palo Alto, California). The unit went into commercial production on May 31, 2001. It is the first CAES unit in the United States and the second such in the world.

During low peak hours, the system compresses and stores air in an underground reservoir at high pressure. During high peak hours, the process is reversed and the compressed air is returned to the surface and heated by natural gas in combustors and run through a high-pressure and low-pressure expander. The reservoir is actually a solution-mined salt dome with a diameter of 220 feet and a height of 1,000 feet. The capacity of the cavern is approximately 10 million cubic feet of air storage, and when fully-charged has an air pressure of over 1,100 pounds per square inch.

The CAES unit is the first generating unit to use a fuel-efficient recuperator, which reduces fuel consumption by 25% during high peak hours. The capacity in which air flows through the CAES generator at 340 pounds per second, which can be compared to some commercial airlines, and at full charge this very unique and cost-efficient unit can supply electricity to 11,000 homes for 26 hours.

Industrial Info tracks planned and unplanned maintenance outages as part of its Power Outage Tracking Database. Contact Industrial Info’s Member Center at 1800-762-3361 for more details.

View Plant Profile - 1006959
View Outage Report - 52679

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a Marketing Information Service company that has been doing business for over 23 years. IIR is respected as the leader in providing comprehensive market intelligence pertaining to the industrial processing, heavy manufacturing, and energy-related industries throughout the world.