Locomotives will generate electricity

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Locomotives will generate electricity

By The Associated Press HELENA (AP) – Montana Rail Link plans to enter the power business by operating 24 parked diesel locomotives and putting the electricity they generate into the Montana Power Co. system, the company said Wednesday.

The regional railroad experimented with locomotive power this spring in Butte and will expand the project, with the first additional power likely in June, said spokeswoman Lynda Frost. Montana Rail Link wants to sell electricity that will help meet needs of its freight customers, such as oil refineries, that have been stung by high prices for power sold on the open market.

“The primary reason for doing this is to serve our customers,” said Russ Ritter, a spokesman for Washington Corps., owner of Rail Link. “When they’re happy, then we’re moving their freight.”

Steep prices for electricity have forced some large Montana businesses to cut production.

Power on the open market now retails for an average of $250 per megawatt. The projected cost of the locomotive-generated power is $100 a megawatt, and the venture will be profitable at that price, Ritter said.

Frost said the railroad plans to divide 24 locomotives among three sites, one in Butte and two near Three Forks. It is possible the locomotives will operate around the clock, she said.

Ritter said each locomotive would generate 1.6 megawatts. Twenty-four of them together would produce about 40 megawatts.

The Missoula-area’s Smurfit-Stone Container Corp., a Rail Link client, was using 58 megawatts an hour in December when the company announced it was cutting production and laying off up to 150 workers.

The locomotive power will go through a converter, enter the Montana Power system and be marketed by Commercial Energy of Montana, based in Cut Bank, Ritter said. Generation will be under the umbrella of a Rail Link offshoot, Rail Energy of Montana, he said.

State officials have issued an air-quality permit for one of the sites near Three Forks, have a second permit application under review and have not received the third application, said Dan Walsh of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.

The locomotives will release gases and particulate matter into the air, Walsh said. He likened locomotive power to use of diesel generators that some Montana businesses have installed temporarily to produce power at below-market prices.

“We don’t think it’s all that great,” said Patrick Judge of the Montana Environmental Information Center. “Diesel is not the cleanest-burning fuel and it’s not even that inexpensive.” Obtaining energy through conservation makes more sense, he said.

Leo Giacometto, a Montana member of the Northwest Power Planning Council, said new power generation that meets environmental regulations is necessary to deal with the power crunch.

“I applaud Montana Rail Link for their actions because we need to use unique thinking at this time,” Giacometto said. “It comes down to, ‘Is this power cheaper than the power on the open market?’Ý”

Dick Watson of the power council staff in Portland, Ore., said he knows of locomotives having been used briefly for emergency power, but the railroad’s plan for sustained use apparently is new. Ritter said the locomotive power is intended as a temporary and partial remedy to the price turmoil while it plays out. How long that will take is uncertain.

Rail Link has a fleet of 120 locomotives. It is possible more will be leased for the energy project, Frost said.

Copyright © 2001 Updated: Thu Apr 26 08:24:12 CDT

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), April 26, 2001

Answers

The locomotive power will go through a converter...
Is this the 440Hz vs 60Hz issue again? See the idea about using Nuke Carriers.
This is a reasonable solution here, because it does not effect our strategic safety.
A buddy who's a Nuke engineer, said they'd buy a locomotive and drive it into a building, build a wall to close it in and wire them up as a backup genny for a Nuke power plants backup pumps. Real or memorex? He said it was a whole lot cheaper than buying a big genny for the job. Yes, the fumes were ducted outside.

-- (perry@ofuzzy1.com), April 26, 2001.

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Concerns surfacing in train-power usage

The Associated Press THREE FORKS (AP) — The planned use of diesel-powered train locomotives to produce electricity for sale is generating concern about possible water, air and wildlife damage, based on comments during a meeting Thursday.

Montana Rail Link plans to park a half-dozen locomotives near Three Forks as part of the initial effort.

Area resident Mick Jackson said local residents presented their concerns Thursday but were told there wasn’t much they could do.

“It was like taking a knife to a gun fight,” Jackson said. “There’s just nothing that you can do with a railroad. They’re exempt from everything.”

Formed through a partnership between Montana Rail Link and Cut Bank- based Commercial Energy Corp., Rail Energy plans to locate six locomotives just north of Willow Creek, where their diesel engines will make power 24 hours a day to be sold to Montana industries.

Because of laws passed by the recent Montana Legislature, there really isn’t much locals can do to stop the project, said Rail Energy’s Ron Perry.

However, he said worries about noise and air pollution aren’t being ignored.

The meeting between Rail Energy officials and concerned residents came one day before the May 4 deadline for public comment to the Air Quality Bureau of the Department of Environmental Quality. DEQ is taking the comments as part of the air-permitting process for the locomotives.

Most of neighbors around the proposed train site had already submitted letters opposing the Rail Energy plan.

“We utilize 8,600 acres to support livestock, registered Angus cattle numbering nearly 1,200 mother cows, that would adversely be affected by a power-generating facility,” wrote Faye Parker.

Jackson balked at an environmental assessment of the project, which suggested the project’s human health impact would be minor.

“What is not mentioned is the fact that the noise associated with six locomotives running continuously at 75 percent throttle will be deafening and compromises the quality of our lives,” he wrote.

Talc maker Luzenac America, which has a factory right next to the proposed train site, voiced concerns that carbon from the diesel exhaust would make its talc unusable and sicken its workers. Luzenac’s other concern was that locomotive noise would make its factory unsafe.

Perry said noise from the trains would be less than the noise of the Luzenac factory, about 60 decibels.

“At 100 feet, you can hear it barely,” Perry said. “Our perception has been that they’re OK with the noise, they’re concerned about emissions.”

If the locomotive exhaust becomes a problem for Luzenac, Rail Energy will address it, Perry said. For nearby homes the exhaust shouldn’t be a problem, for most people, he said.

Rail Energy contends it is saving Montana jobs by selling power at below-market value to struggling industries.

Five Montana factories have already begun making power with fossil fuel generators because they can’t afford to buy power on the deregulated energy market. The average retail price now on the open market is about $250 per megawatt. The locomotive power will sell for about $100 a megawatt.

Rail Energy plans to wire the trains to a nearby energy substation, where the power will be pumped onto the energy grid. Combined with another half-dozen locomotives planned for the Trident area, these generating units will produce 20 megawatts of power.

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), May 05, 2001.


Locomotives for electricity receive air quality permit

By LESLIE McCARTNEY Lee Montana Newspapers

BUTTE - A one-year air quality permit has been approved by the Department of Environmental Quality for a company seeking to generate electricity using six locomotives to be housed at Montana Resources.

The decision was issued Friday; a 15-day appeal period runs until July 2. A final decision will be made July 3, which means the engines could be generating electricity shortly afterward.

However, all of that hinges on an acceptable agreement between Rail Energy and Montana Resources since the company wishes to park the engines on Montana Resources' property.

Rail Energy is a collaboration between Montana Rail Link and Commercial Energy of Montana. Together the two have proposed the use of six engines that will generate electricity and pump it into a nearby Montana Power substation. The energy - estimated at about nine megawatts - will be used by Rail Energy customers.

The department has been peppered with complaints about the plan since the comment period closed, especially in relation to noise concerns by nearby residents. However, DEQ officials have pointed out that noise or vibration cannot be considerations to deny a permit - only concerns about air-quality are pertinent.

"There are no standards for noise and the department does not have the authority under the air-quality regulations to mitigate noise in an air-quality permit," the department wrote in the 21-page air- quality permit.

However, the department did give Rail Energy several conditions and limitations including installing stack extensions on each locomotive.

The requirement will help to minimize the concentration of the emissions.

"The higher the stack the better the dispersion," said Dave Klemp of the DEQ. "It should help with ambient standards but it wasn't necessary."

In addition, DEQ ordered that the company not operate any more than six engines and set a throttle setting for the engines. It also set opacity standards and other conditions as well.

Earlier this week, representatives from Rail Energy said they hoped that engines would be running by July 1, as it has customers whose electrical contracts end in June.

Leslie McCartney is a reporter for the Montana Standard in Butte

http://www.missoulian.com/display/inn_news/news18.txt

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), June 16, 2001.


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