Garland Power & Light to Fire-Up New 75-Megawatt Generator

Garland, Texas, July 10, 2001 - With the click of a computer mouse at a ceremony beginning at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, July 13, Garland Mayor Jim Spence and other dignitaries will officially start-up Garland Power & Light's new 75-megawatt (75,000-kilowatts) combustion turbine generator at Ray Olinger Power Plant near Lake Lavon. The new turbine is intended to meet the needs for Garland's peak electrical demand in the future.

Instead of a traditional ribbon-cutting ceremony, Spence will start the generator using a specially designed computer interface, where he will click a button using a typical computer mouse. The new generator and turbine, which cost $28.7 million, will be the first of its kind to be used by Garland Power and Light. While GP&L's other generation plants use natural gas as well, they produce steam to power turbines.

Instead of steam, the new gas combustion uses compressed air to power its turbine. With this arrangement, the turbine generator can develop full generating capacity in 30 minutes as opposed to the four hours required by the larger, steam-driven generation units. This quick "online" capability can be vital at critical times such as 100-degree or more weather situations when a utility’s generation capacity can be strained to maximum safe operating limits.

While the electricity provided by the new gas combustion turbine generator will ultimately be needed for GP&L's own customers as area growth continues, the new capacity will permit additional sales of electrical power to other utilities on the wholesale market. These additional revenues from wholesale electrical sales are especially important to help GP&L keep customer rates low in the newly competitive markets under electric retail deregulation.

GP&L production staff members oversaw and managed this major project, achieving significant cost-savings throughout construction and installation. The generator unit was shipped from its manufacturer overseas to Houston, was transported by rail to Greenville, Texas, and then trucked to the installation site. To transport the 168,000-pound piece of equipment to the installation site required a truck and trailer measuring 112-feet and boasting 42 wheels. The GE 7EA gas combustion turbine was manufactured in Greenville, S.C., and also traveled by rail to Texas. Both were set on their permanent foundations last November.

NOTE: Members of the news media who wish to cover the dedication and tour the plant should meet city dignitaries at 11 a.m. for bus transportation to the Ray Olinger Plant. No one will be admitted into the plant except visitors on these designated buses.