Great Plains Synfuels Plant, Antelope Valley Station sustain damages from summer storm

A summer storm with sustained winds of over 52 miles per hour and gusts between 64-95 miles per hour, caused damage to Dakota Gasification Company’s Great Plains Synfuels Plant and Antelope Valley Station on Aug. 1.

Dale Johnson, Basin Electric senior vice president and manager of the Synfuels Plant, said several buildings sustained damage, including roof and siding panels that were torn loose, broken windows, a damaged piping system, garage doors blown in and damaged, and shredded covers to large storage tents. “There was a lot of debris flying around during the storm, but there were only a few areas where the debris impacted equipment,” Johnson said.

In addition, the main power supply for the plant faltered during the storm, which ultimately caused a large portion of the plant to trip “This type of plant trip is hard on the equipment, and it tends to take a lot of time and hard work to bring it back online,” Johnson said. “Once the weather conditions were safe, the team did a great job of assessing the conditions and beginning the process of restoring plant operation.” Half of the plant was brought back online in one day and the other half a few days later.

Some of the plant’s minor repairs were completed right after the storm in order to restart the plant and the remaining siding and roofing repairs will be completed after the plant’s brown plant turnaround, which is taking place in September, but before winter begins. There are no estimates of damages at this time.

Antelope Valley Station sustained minor damage, including a section of the turbine roof that lifted, siding torn off one of coal system’s transfer houses, and a tree blowing over due to the strong wind.

Antelope Valley Station Plant Manager Jason Cowan said overall the plant weathered the storm well, however, the storm did cause a lightning arrestor to fail, taking one unit offline. “Thankfully, TSM (Transmission System Maintenance) crews arrived onsite that evening and worked through the night to get the unit back online the following day,” Cowan said.   

Roof repairs have already been completed and the damaged siding will be repaired next summer. Cowan estimates Antelope Valley Station received about $75,000 worth of damage.

While both plants sustained damage as a result of the storm, Johnson and Cowan said their first priority was the safety of their employees, because the potential for injury was high due to the significant amount of flying debris. “Witnesses who were there said it was a scary sight, but the team took quick action and had everyone take shelter,” Johnson said. "Because of that, thankfully, no one was injured.”