Medford mail tribune., June 30, 1963, Image 9

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falenrock Generating Plant Key to PP&L's Wyoming Operation
By ERIC W. ALLEN JR.
Mail Tribune Managing Editor
In southern Oregon, we take it for granted that,
when we flick the switch on the wall, the light will go on.
- In Wyoming, it's a bit less certain than that'. Un
' limited and dependable electric service is relatively new
; to the Cowboy State.
i In southern Oregon, when we think of electricity,
,!we think of dams and reservoirs and penstocks, of gen
; era tors whirling from the force of water roaring through
the turbines.
! In Wyoming, electricity means coal and big boilers
and steam-fed turbines and generators, and new trans
, mission lines criss-crossing the vast and often barren
land.
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' The contrast is sharp. None know it better than
e officers of Pacific Power & Light Company, which
r serves much of Oregon and much of Wyoming, and
i' produces its electric energy both from water power
-" and from steam, heated by coal.
i And, as a company which is acutely and intelligently
aware of its public 'image," PP&L has gone to con-
' siderable lengths to inform the people of the areas it
serves not only of its problem, but also of its accom-
plishments, and of its efforts to increase the quality
and scope of its service.
It was for this reason that a group of newspapermen
from its Oregon service areas, plus others, recently
were invited to tour Wyoming as guests of PP&L, and
' to inspect the facilities there. Newsmen from Medford,
Klamath Falls, Bend, Astoria, Portland and Pendleton
wtic aiuiig. Ha wt'it a new nines repuner, auu writers
from national magazines interested in eletcrical and
; financial aff irs. They were joined later by radio, TV
: nd newsmen from Denver and Wyoming cities.
' In Wyoming Nine Years
i.; PP&L has been in Wyoming for about nine years.
: Its first investment there totaled about $12 million. Tp
' day it is about $100 million. It has built transmission
. lines, substations and local facilities.
i But the key to its Wyoming operation is a new power
generating steam plant at Glenrock. It is named for
: Dave Johnston, a pioneer power executive in Wyoming,
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' W1IU ilUW IS U1ICUIUI CI11CI11US UL r T OCLi, ctllU W11U IS
Still vitally interested In Wyoming power.
The plant was started in 1956 as part of what PP&L
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The new steam plant unit, rising 18 stories, is nearly
at its maximum height. An idea of its size is conveyed
by dramatic picture above, looking almost straight up
from a second-story roof.
President Don McClung called a "crash program" to
provide new generating facilities for a state which was
sadly deficient at the time, and which would have an
ever-increasing power deficit unless something big and
spectacular were done immediately.
First Unit It Completed
The first unit of the plant was completed in 1958,
to generate 100,000 kilowatts. The day it was dedicated,
it was announced that construction of a second 100,000
kilowatt unit would begin immediately. The second unit,
doubling the capacity, was finished in December, 1960.
Within two years it became evident that growing de
mand would require additional generating facilities, and
third unit was started.
It is now under construction, with completion due
a year from now. This will again double the power
output of the plant, adding 200,000 killowatts, for a
total capacity of 400,000.
Total investment in the big plant will amount to
some $67 million when completed. But other invest
. ments, notably in transmission lines, in a coal mine, and
in transportation facilities, bring the total up to about
$100 million in Wyoming.
Coal in Vast Quantities
The Glenrock plant uses coal coal in vast quanti
ties. It has revived coal mining as an industry in the
Glenrock area an industry almost entirely done by
PP&L, which is now the largest employer in the area.
The mine itself is 16 miles away from the Dave
Johnston plant, and is connected with it by a road built,
owned and operated by PP&L, with an investment of
mor than $1 million.
The coal lis in a scam up to 40 or more feet thick,
situated beneath an overburden of soil and rock. It is
estimated there is a sufficient quantity to last for
decades.
Bulldozers and huge highway-type scrapers remove
the earth overburden. The coal, which is of a soft, low
grade, sub-bituminous quality, is shattered with drills
and powder. Then a giant power shovel (operated by
electricity, naturally enough) digs out 8'2-ton bites and
loads it on to big dump trucks, which take it to a
crusher and tipple near the mine.
Coal Deposited In Silo
There the coal is smashed into chunks of 4 inches
or smaller, and Its deposited in a "silo." From there
it is loaded into other big trucks which carry loads of
70 tons or more each load. The trucks go roaring down
the road at 35 miles per hour, and can make a round
trip in a little over an hour, including loading and un
loading. At the plant the coal is again crushed to smaller size;
and finally pulverized into a powder almost as fine as
talcum. This is blown into the boiler and, because of its
fineness, burns almost like a volatile oil, at 1000 de
grees Fahrenheit. The combustion Is fast and almost
complete this way, and what used to be "clinkers" after
coal was burned here is merely a powder-like ash that
can be piped away for disposal.
The boiler is comprised of miles of steel pipe into
which water is injected. The heat turns the water to
steam, the steam turn the giant turbines, which turn
the generators, which turn out the electric current.
Is Taking Other Steps
When the new unit is completed, PP&L will be
able to generate virtually all the power needed in its
' distribution system. Meanwhile, however, it is taking
other steps to insure adequate power for the power
hungry area, which has increased its demands on an
average of some 20 per cent per year over the last
decade.
A new substation at Rock Springs in southwestern
Wyoming was dedicated at the same time the press lour
was visiting, and it marked a new era for power in
that area. It tics the PP&L Wyoming transmission grid
into the Pacific Northwest Power Pool, through the fa
cilities c' the Utah Power and Light Company, from
which PP&L is obtaining power until its new Glenrock
unit is in operation.
Also under construction is a transmission line to
the Flaming Gorge Reclamation project in northern Col
orado, where power will be purchsed. A new line goes
north from Rock Springs to the Riverton-Landcr-At-lantic
City area, where, among other customers, it serves
the new taconile iron-ore mine and bencf icint ion plant
operated by the Columbia-Geneva Division of U. S. Steel,
which was constructed only after power became avail
able. Biggest Area Consumer
Another industry which has shot the electric de
mand to ever-new highs is petroleum, which has almost
completely converted to electricity, and constitutes one
Sports
Features
Medford
Tribune
SECTION B
MEDFORD, OREGON, SUNDAY, JUNE 30, 1963
PAGES 1 to 8
The massive electric generator In (he foreground is
dwarfed by the 18-stnry steel framework for the new
unit of the plant. Cylindrical objects at right are coal
hoppers which feed powdered coal dust into boilers
housed in structure.
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This Is one of the myriad of control rooms needed for the operation of the steam
plant. Tower generated here flows to many parts of power-poor Wyoming.
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The Dave Johnston steam power plant at Glenrock,
Wyo., is being doubled in size. The older units can be
seen behind the steel framework of the new unit Roing
up in front. The new boiler, which will generate 200,000
kilowatts, lies in foreground, almost ready for installation.
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This switching yard Is adjacent lo the steam power plant, and channels electric
power to many parts of Wyoming.
of the biggest consumers of the area, both for pump
ing from the ground, and for pumping through the
thousands of miles of pipeline.
New oil and gas fields also have opened Up, and
mining of bentonite, trona steel and uranium have also
boosted electric demand.
Casper, which is some 18 miles from the Glenrock
sleam plant, is a town of nearly 40,000, and is PP&L's
Wyoming headquarters. It is a rich city," boasting three
oil refineries and the offices of a number of oil pro
ducing companies.
Rock Springs, on the other hind, Is a poor city,
with some 10,000 population, which was hard hit when
the railroad changed from coal lo diescl power and
the coal mines closed. So the opening of the new sub
station, to handle 230,000-volt transmissions, eventual
ly in four different directions, makes it a real electrical
crossroad, adding both lo Its prosperity and to its sense
of Importance.
Dedication of the substation, and the continued ex
pansion of generating and transmission facilities, Hre
xymbnlie both of PP&L's efforts to bring Industrializa
tion to Wyoming, and its confidence of success.
The day evidently Is coming when a resident of
Rock Springs can switch on nn electric light, or start
a power-consuming Industry, with Ihe same confidence
thai a resident of southern Oregon now can do. The
economy of Wyoming, and of the entire west, will bene
fit thereby.
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The coal mine operated by Pacific Power & Light Company near Glenrock, Wyo, is shown above. The over
burden of soil (light-colored material above) is scraped away, the coal is shattered with powder, then loaded
in big trucks, 8'i tons or more at one bite, by the electrically-powered shovel. The seam of coal is as much as
40 feet thick, and covers hundrej of acres.
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Raw coal Is dumped Into crusher at left of picture, is reduced to fisl-sizcd hunks or smaller, then conveyed Into
Ihe big "silo'' which can hold a full day's supply. It then is reconvcyed Inlu giant trucks which carry 70 tons or
more each l:lp on the 16-mile trip to the ilcam plant.
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