SHELBY, Ohio – Organizers hope a sale at the Shelby Municipal Light Plant will facilitate a move towards more modern technology at the facility.
Through a live auction set for Nov. 10, the light plant hopes to sell items including the steam turbines/generators, auxiliary equipment, pumps, motors, valves, piping, wires, boiler controls and associated instrumentation, and other miscellaneous equipment.
The auction will pave the way for the plant to reinvest the funds raised at the auction into reciprocating engines/generators.
“The generators would be utilized for peak shaving during times when the city’s energy demands are high, which in return will have a significant reduction on our power costs,” said John Ensman, Deputy Director of Public Service for the city of Shelby.
The most significant items for auction are the plant’s steam turbines/generators. Ensman explained the light plant’s steam generators were idled in February 2011 and eventually retired in December 2013.
“With the retirement, most of the equipment at the plant is no longer needed for city purposes,” he said. “The equipment still retains value, whether in salvage or scrap.”
The generators’ value can be found again particularly for countries in the developing stages of their electrical system. Ensman said over the past couple years, the Shelby Municipal Light Plant has entertained companies from Central America interested in the equipment.
“Though this machinery is being retired from the United States due to pollution control and emission standards that are forthcoming, those regulations are not standard in their countries so this equipment could be utilized there,” Ensman said.
The auction triggered interest from another generating company in Ohio. All the equipment from the light plant available for auction will be advertised locally, nationally and internationally and will be managed and sold by asset management company Schneider Industries, Inc. utilizing the auctioneering services of Chuck Miller. The auction will be conducted live on-site and via the Internet.
Once the auction items are sold, the funds generated from the auction will go towards the city’s Electric Fund. Ensman said the eventual hope for the funds is to purchase new natural gas engines, aligning with Mayor Steve Schag’s blended power generation strategy for the city.
“Our goal is to put in place a 21st-century municipal electric system that capitalizes on producing power to reduce our outside purchase power demands,” Schag said. “This can be accomplished by investing in today’s proven, and approved, power generation technology, while evaluating and exploring tomorrow’s leading renewable resource technologies.
“This proposed combination of blended power generation will allow for future developments while we continue to provide a reliable electric distribution system with competitive rates for our residential, commercial and industrial customers for years to come.”
Items remaining at the Light Plant will be the switchgear and the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. The switchgear at the Light Plant distributes approximately 60 percent of the city’s energy and the SCADA monitors the electric system.
“Basically it’s a small substation at this point,” said Scott Gunder, Superintendent of the Shelby Light Plant. “We do have one generator on site to provide power for emergencies and peak times of the day when we need it.”
Currently, the light plant retains five employees. Gunder noted that since the retirement of the generators in 2013, the light plant was able to phase personnel into other positions throughout the city and did not lay off any employees.
“There was a lot of emotion, it was kind of a sad thing to see it shut down, and this hurts too, to go through the auction and see the equipment leave,” Gunder said. “But we support the mayor’s strategy that he wants to bring generation back into the plant, it keeps the guys motivated.”
Ensman stated the city is looking at four, 2-megawatt units to replace the units in kind throughout the turban deck, connected right to the switchgear. In peak energy demands, the plant will start the natural gas engines and put them online.
“Our visions, thoughts and goals are to still be independent and control some of our electricity costs; with generation we can do that,” Ensman said. “We are phasing out the old and bringing in the new.”
“Our goal is to put in place a 21st century municipal electric system that capitalizes on producing power to reduce our outside purchase power demands,” said Mayor Steve Schag.
