BURBANK STILL TRYING TO GEAR UP FOR MORE POWER.

Byline: Jason Kandel Staff Writer

BURBANK - After five years and $243 million, Burbank is poised to crank up its 310-megawatt Magnolia Power Project, which will power some 250,000 homes and businesses in Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, Colton, Anaheim and Cerritos.

But it's having problems.

During a test run June 4, a 12-inch diameter turning gear broke, delaying the plant's opening and forcing the six cities to spend more buying electricity during peak times at the hottest part of the summer.

``Our additional costs are over $1 million a month,'' said Frederic C. Fletcher, assistant general manager for Burbank Water and Power. ``We're working seven days a week, 24 hours a day to fix it. We're working lots of overtime. We expect to get this thing online and working again by Monday. I can assure the public there will be no outages.''

The gear, made from high-grade stainless steel, broke after engineers engaged it with a second gear that turns the steam turbine generator. Some 20,000 foot-pounds of turning power are required for a ``roll off,'' the initial spin of the turbine.

When the gear broke, Maintenance Supervisor Dave Reno said, it made a big clunk ``100 times more than the sound of grinding gears in a car.''

Reno said he believes the automated system may have engaged the gears too quickly, and that the turning gear cracked under the tremendous pressure.

An investigation by manufacturer General Electric is under way to determine the cause. Another gear, meantime, was expected to arrive at the Burbank plant this weekend. Reno said workers will use a smaller horsepower motor and slow the gear down to cut the amount of force.

``This is just a temporary solution,'' Reno said. ``GE is looking to re-engineer this whole deal.''

Officials say they hope that, if everything goes well, the new system will be up and running in a couple of weeks.

Burbank reportedly has enough power - from its two 50-megawatt steam turbine generators and extra energy supplies from out of state - for its 55,000 customers while the repairs are being made.

Once the bugs are worked out, and the plant goes online, officials said the Magnolia project will generate 800 megawatt hours a day for Burbank.

Typically, the city spends $5 million to $6 million on energy every month. When the plant comes online, officials hope to offset the costs by selling off surplus energy in the winter.

``That's why were scrambling,'' Fletcher said. ``This has had a significant impact on the utility. We don't want any rate increases.''

Fletcher said GE was bearing the costs of the repairs, the overtime and other associated costs.

``There's so much money involved here that there could potentially be lawsuits, so we have to handle these matter prudently,'' he said.

GE officials did not return calls seeking comment.

Besides providing power to 55,000 homes and businesses in Burbank, the plant will help power 195,000 homes and businesses in Pasadena, Anaheim, Colton, Cerritos and Glendale.

Ned Bassin, the power management administrator for Glendale Water and Power, said he was confident that the Magnolia plant would be fixed soon and that there would be enough power meanwhile for the utility's 80,000 customers.

Magnolia is expected to provide extra power on peak days for Glendale, assisting Glendale's aging Grayson Power Plant.

``They are working diligently to get the turning gear replaced,'' Bassin said. ``We're looking forward to it. It'll be more efficient. It's a new plant, and we expect it to be there for 30 years.''

Jason Kandel, [phone]

jason.kandel(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Frederic C. Fletcher examines the broken device that halted the startup of the $243 million Magnolia Power Project in Burbank.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer