Teamwork takes flight: Basin Electric procures vital part to keep station running

A turbine bleed hose is just one of many parts that keep a generation station running, but it plays a critical role by helping to preheat cold air during the winter. So when the turbine bleed hose at natural gas fueled Culbertson Generation Station in Culbertson, Montana, failed recently, rendering the unit unavailable, the team had to do some quick thinking to get the station back online. The station, Basin Electric’s first power plant in Montana, provides about 95 megawatts of peaking capacity to the region and is sited near a compressor station on the Northern Border Pipeline. It uses natural gas from Basin Electric’s subsidiary, Dakota Gasification Company, via the pipeline, to spin its turbine. 

With the unit unavailable, and an eight-week lead time on a new bleed hose, time was of the essence. Joe Fiedler, Basin Electric manager of Distributed Generation, reached out to several vendors and other LMS100 turbine operators to see if a hose was available. “I was able to find a utility in Arizona that had a spare they were willing to sell to us,” he says. 

Tammy DeWitt, Basin Electric director of Corporate Services, reached out to Ryan Anderson, Basin Electric aviation manager, to start preparations for pick up in Mesa, Arizona. “My first thought was, ‘I wonder if the part will fit in the baggage compartment?’ It's not unusual to have power plant pieces that don't fit in our small, passenger configuration aircraft,” Anderson says. “The other thought I had was this is another great opportunity for the aircraft to demonstrate their incredible value.”  

After receiving the measurements of the hose and crawling around the baggage compartment of the plane, Anderson verified the hose would fit. 

Anderson likes to tell first-time visitors to the facility that Basin Electric houses time-saving machines in the hangar bay. “We all have different tools to buy us more time: cars, smart phones, garage door openers, etc. The time we purchased with the plane this day came at a bargain price compared to the cost of having the plant down longer than it could have been.” 

After confirming the Basin Electric plane was available to collect the hose, Fiedler reached out to Chris Kurle, Basin Electric manager of Purchasing, to put together a purchase order and acquire a warehouse/shipping contact. “Arizona Public Service was incredible to work with,” Kurle says. “They understand how critical it is to keep a plant running to provide reliable power to the end user. I appreciate them going above and beyond to support Basin Electric and the Culbertson Generation Station.” 

Nathan Johnson, Basin Electric senior logistics administrator, stepped in to make sure the right parties were in the loop on what was happening and which options were available to get the bleed hose to Culbertson quickly. “Step number one is always including the right people,” Johnson says. “Clear communication is critical in making sure everything runs smoothly.” Johnson’s first email was to make sure the right parties knew what was happening, what was being worked on, and what options they had. 

Teamwork ensured the smooth and efficient movement of goods, and driving versus flying meant the unit could be down for an additional one to two days. During a cold snap those hours become crucial to the support of Basin Electric’s members. “Logistics isn’t always simple. It’s dynamic with frequent changes,” Johnson says. “Having Ryan and his team so willing to get the job done makes my piece of the pie simple.”  

The Culbertson site personnel worked overtime to meet the plane in Williston and transport the hose back to Culbertson, where it was quickly installed to get the unit running. To highlight just how quickly the team worked, the Culbertson Generation Station unit was put into a forced outage at 9 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 3, and was returned to service at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 4.