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Source: The Salina Journal, Kan.迷你倉出租Aug. 23--CLAY CENTER -- Bill Callaway said he's had enough of glitches in the electric power system that supplies customers of the Clay Center Public Utilities Commission.After a number of power outages this summer, the commission disconnected from the grid Wednesday and fired up its natural gas-powered plant in Clay Center."We've had outages up here for the last three months, maybe four. It's just one right after the other, and we're getting tired of it," said Callaway, the superintendent of public utilities in Clay Center, with 5,000 customers."We were out almost three hours one night," he said. "It's affecting more than just Clay Center."Power was out during the day Wednesday in areas from Clay Center to Abilene, said Chancy Smith, director of Dickinson County Emergency Management. There have been "random power outages" throughout the summer, he said."It seems like it's the same area that's going out, and it's widespread," Smith said. "Anytime you're without power, it just stinks, especially when it's getting warmer."Outages have turned courtrooms and offices dark in the Dickinson County Courthouse, he said, but other areas, such as the 911 dispatch center, have backup power."You'd think, with the price of (electricity) going up, they'd keep the lights on a little better," Smith said.Reconstructing lineThe outages have been caused by the reconstruction of a transmission line from Junction City to Salina, said Tom Sydow, regional director for Westar Energy."Instead of a two-way feed, it's a one-way feed. While that's happening, it's less reliable," he said.In a written response Thursday, Westar Energy accepted some responsibility for the problem."Reliability in the Clay Center area has suffered recently, and we are addressing it. Most recently, we had blinks on our system earlier this week and an outage that lasted about 20 minutes Wednesday afternoon," wrote Gina Penzig, a Westar spokeswoman.That's one excuseThat outage occurred when the boom of an agricultural sprayer touched a transmission line in Dickinson County, southwest of Abilene. The sprayer operator was not injured, Penzig wrote in her statement.Callaway said he'd heard about the blame for Wednesday's outage being placed on the agricultural sprayer."I've had six outages this month alone. So what caused the other five outages?" 儲存倉e asked.Westar workers inspected lines in the "troubled area" Wednesday evening, Penzig wrote, "and they saw insulators that we think are the likely cause of the recent outages."That equipment was being replaced Thursday, she wrote."In addition, a helicopter with cameras that will detect heat signatures and other signs of equipment problems not apparent to the human eye flew the area (Thursday) morning. Their report back was that the other equipment appears to be working correctly," Penzig's statement reads.The transmission line is expected to be completed to Chapman by the end of this year, Sydow said, and the line from Chapman to Abilene will be built in 2014. The final stage, from Abilene to Salina, is scheduled for 2015, he said.Penzig doesn't expect Salina customers to see outages as the line moves westward."Abilene's reliability has been impacted by the current project, and customers should see an improvement in service as construction progresses," her statement reads. "The city of Salina has several transmission lines feeding into it, so we don't expect construction to lessen reliability in the city."Penzig wrote that Westar has spent more than $200 million to "improve reliability and increase capacity to provide electricity to the area," and another $200 million is earmarked to be invested in the electric grid in north-central Kansas.Clay Center buys electricity from the Kansas Power Pool, Callaway said, but the energy gets to the city on Westar's transmission lines.But for the time being, Clay Center is making its own power, which costs from 1.5 to 2 cents more per kilowatt hour."I don't know that it's going to raise customers' bills unless we maintain this for more than a couple days," Callaway said.During a short stint, he expects the Kansas Power Pool's 23 longtime contract members to absorb the extra cost. Those include municipalities, such as Winfield, Clay Center, Minneapolis, Hillsboro and Greensburg, he said."My customers pay for reliable, dependable energy, not excuses," Callaway said. "If it takes us generating our own to get that, that's what we've got to do."-- Reporter Tim Unruh can be reached at 822-1419 or by email at tunruh@salina.com.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Salina Journal (Salina, Kan.) Visit The Salina Journal (Salina, Kan.) at .saljournal.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉沙田