A planned major power outage at Leland Olds Station Unit 2, near Stanton, North Dakota, began March 15 and is expected to last until May 18.
The major outage is for routine maintenance and exploratory work on the 447-megawatt unit, Plant Superintendent Tony Michlitsch said.
A planned outage is scheduled years in advance, and when the outage occurs, that power must be made up by other units. Because of the long lead time, Michlitsch said a lot goes into planning a major outage, including his team working closely with the marketing group to make sure there’s enough power supplied to customers.
“Having a planned outage that is scheduled years before it happens allows the marketing group to plan for those megawatts to be bought on the market, if needed,” he said.
Spring and fall are ideal times to conduct planned outages because the electric load is lighter, Michlitsch said. Not as many people run their air conditioners or heaters in spring or fall. Outages at Leland Olds Station are scheduled every three years for Unit 2; every four years for Unit 1.
Michlitsch said he and his team started ramping up for the planned outage last year and noted it is always a hectic period once the outage occurs. The team is working hard to ensure maintenance is conducted safely and efficiently to repower Unit 2 by the estimated completion date.
