Laramie River Station outage includes new environmental equipment

Laramie River Station began its quadrennial outage on March 16. Preparations for the outage began in January.

The outage is an opportunity to perform work across the plant, but the largest project is an overhaul of the unit 3 electrostatic precipitator (ESP).

The ESP is an air pollution control device used for particulate removal from flue gas. It is a plant requirement regulated by Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, and equipment needs to be maintained and updated to continue to meet the permit requirements.

Laramie River Station’s ESP was originally installed in 1982 and received its first overhaul in 2002.

The expected equipment life of the ESP is around 20 years, and it receives minor annual maintenance and major quadrennial maintenance. "Due to the age and condition of the internal components which are exposed to flue gas, it was costly and not sufficient to continue solely with minor and major repairs to keep the ESP running," Jerrod Isaak, Laramie River Station plant engineer, said.

To effectively maintain environmental compliance, all the internal components are being replaced with new equipment, including new top rapper systems to replace the original bottom rapper systems. The rapper system shakes off the flue dust from the internal collection plates, and the new equipment is easier to maintain and more efficient. There are four individual chambers within the ESP, and each chamber will receive new parts.

Plant outages and regular maintenance are one way that Basin Electric continues to invest in reliability for its members. The outage is targeted to last nine weeks.