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Show ;--.-;. "j ----- r---"3 - - -.-r.r.t-A m'-V ;,V 4 , . 7 . ' - ' J" i ' ... IT'S 3:30 p.m. at the Deseret Generator) and Transmission plant being built about 35 miles southeast of Vernal. Nearly 900 DGSiT construction continues, 900 employees now on site Driving past the Deseret Generation and Transmission Plant on State Highway 45, a person sees nothing of what the project really is. To awake early in the morning and flip the light switch, and then actually actual-ly have light, has become expected. When the power goes off for a short interval, in-terval, we are simply irritated. Perhaps we should not be. The generation of electricity is no .simple matter, and perhaps as complex com-plex as creating the electricity, at least from coal, is the process necessary before the smoke can be released. One-third of the entire construction cost of $1.23 billion is for environmental environmen-tal equipment. Not only that, but 10 percent of the entire 400 megawatts of construction employees are now on the site. This is the largest workforce of the entire project. power produced by the plant will be used us-ed to operate the environmental equipment. The DG&T plant is a relatively small electricity generating plant. Each phase will produce 400 megawatts of power, but there are no immediate plans to begin on the second phase. In comparison, the Intermountain Power Project being built near Delta, Utah will have two turbines each producing 750 megawatts of power. That is a scaled scal-ed down version of the original plans which called for four turbines totaling 3000 megawatts of electricity. Even so, the DG&T plant is a maze of complexity. According to Lynn S. Newman, a mechanical engineer on the project, one of the main problems supervisors must face is coordinating efforts. In theory, says Newman, the entire project is outlined on paper, but applying that plan sometimes creates problems. Currently all but two of the nearly 50 contractors on the site are moving on schedule, but planning problems pro-blems still exist. Much of the construction construc-tion must proceed in a certain sequence. se-quence. If one contractor falls behind, another contractor may not be able to begin the next step as planned. In order to work out as many problems pro-blems as possible, weekly meetings are held to discuss what each contractor contrac-tor will be specifically doing during the following week. And if that isn't enough, the supervisors must coordinate coor-dinate the efforts of nearly 900 workers presently on the worksite. DG&T is a cooperative that supplies electricity to 30,000 consumers in Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, and Arizona. Almost all of the consumers using the cooperative power are rural residents. Costs of providing power to rural consumers con-sumers has its own problems. Deseret members average about four consumers con-sumers per mile of power line. Even so, Deseret consumers only pay about 12 percent more for their electricity than city residents. Besides the plant itself, many support sup-port facilities are necessary for the function of a power plant. A railroad has been constructed from the Deserado Coal Mine approximately 38 miles away. The coal from this mine will be used exclusively for the DG&T plant. It was necessary to show at least a 25 year supply of coal before they were given approval to go ahead with the plant. The railroad is the first in Uintah County. The 30 car train is capable of carrying carry-ing 3000 ton of coal to the plant. It will make two trips a day, even though the plant will only use about 3500 tons of coal per day. The train will not run on weekends. DG&T has rights to 30 cubic feet per second (cfs) of water from the Green River. The first phase will require only about 12'2 cfs. When the second turbine tur-bine comes on line it will require another 12Vi cfs. The water is pumped out of the Green River by three large pumping stations. The stations are located on the banks of the Green River, but the draw pipes are some 40 feet below the surface on the river. By submerging the perforated pipes that deep, then pumping substantial quantities quan-tities of sand through the system, eventually gravel settles around the pipes. The water pumped out is significantly clearer than the water on top of the Green River. The water is pumped part of the 19 miles to the power plant by the river side pumps, then booster pumps help the water to the highest elevation, where gravity takes over and it flows in a 24-inch pipe the remainder of the way to the site. The pipeline is buried the entire distance from the river to the plant, and the entire area has been revegetated with natural plants. The power eventually generated from DG&T, scheduled to begin in late 1984, will travel throughout the cooperative system and supply electricity elec-tricity to many of the 30,000 consumers. |