| OCR Text |
Show Post·lt'" brand fax transmittal memo 7671 l'!'Om • Co . UTAH POWER a division of PacijiCorp Phone 1/ FaxN FaK' contact: Dove Es\(elsen 801/220-2447 :WS Une Utah Center 201 S. Main. St€! . 2200 Salt Lake City. LIT 84140 Novel'nbel' 28, 1995 POWER PLANT NOTED FOR 100 YEARS OF SERVICE Utah POl-ver's Stairs hydroelectric plant will receive two awards Nov. 29 noting its Centcmtial year and its sign.ificance in the history of COl1111WrcinJ electric power in the West. 111e presentation is scheduled for 11 a.m. '1t the plant site, located three miles up Big Cotton wood Cc.nyon, east of Salt Lake City. Hydro Review, Kansas City, Mo., "the magazi.ne of the North American HydH1electric Indushy/' honotc.~d the Stairs plant as one of three in the U.S. induded into a newly created Hydro Hall of Fame. Also, the Utah Division of State History named Stairs a State Historic site and placed it on the National Register of Historic Places. Presenting the awards will be Wilson G. Martin, deputy state historic pn'scrvation officer and Dr. Rand Decker. assistant professor of civil engineering at the University of Utah. Decker is a rn.cmbcr of the editorial advisory board of Hydro Review. A state historic m.arker is being prepared to read, in part, "Stairs station was built in 1894-96 as the first hydroelectric power plant to provide electricity to Salt Lake City. Tt was als() one of the first plants in Uta.h to transmit pnwer long distance, using alternating current rather than direct curt'ent ... The notation from Hydro Revie"(,1) reads, in part, "From tlw fledgling, yet exciting, source of electricity that the Stairs plant was when it began operating 100 years ago, hydroelectricity has grown to provide more than 20 percent of the world's electricity. In an increasingly "throwaway" world, Stuirs can be proud of its achievement iJi keeping its hydroelectric plant operating over the past 100 years, provided needed power and er'lhanced quality of life for many homes an businesses." Renovation.s at the plant are currently in progress to replace the turbine and turbine runner (the components that are hU1'lcd by the running water). TIle result will be greater efficiency: more kiJowatts of generation with less water. Also installing automated equipment for cleaning the debris rack at the water diversion near StOI1Tl Mountain, as "veIl as a new transformer and generator circuit breaker at the plant site. 111e 1.2 megawatt Stairs plant is currently tmdergoing improvements to its gl'lWl'ating and power delivery equipm.ent. The plant has been operated primarily by computer control since the 1980s. Utah Power is a division of PacifiCorp, which serves sonte 1.3 million electric customers in seven states. II ••• |
