| Bath
County Station Upgrade Component Shipment Information |
Print-Friendly
Version |
As part of a six-year project to refurbish and to increase the generating capacity of its Bath County Pumped Storage Station, Dominion will be moving large pieces of equipment along several Virginia routes. When these moves occur, detailed information will be provided below.
| Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 |
On Jan. 31, Dominion will bring a loaded 220-foot tractor-trailer rig to the power station. The rig will leave the abandoned rest area on Interstate 64 at about 8 a.m. The rig will travel west on I-64 to the U.S. Route 220 North Exit (exit 16). It will continue on U.S. Route 220 to VA Route 39 and Route 600. This move will slow traffic on U.S. Route 220 going up Covington Mountain from about 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. It will impact traffic on VA Route 39 going west over Back Creek Mountain from about 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. On Feb. 1, the loaded big rig will leave the power station at about 7 a.m. and travel south and east along Route 600, VA Route 39 and U.S. Route 220. The rig will impact traffic along VA Route 39 at Back Creek Mountain at about 8 a.m. and along U.S. Route 220 going down Covington Mountain from about 11 a.m to 1:00 p.m. |
This schedule is subject to change due to the weather, travel restrictions or other unforeseen circumstances. Visit this page for any last-minute schedule changes (find this page with keyword "bigrig"), or call 1-800-331-9365 for schedule changes and a listing of up-to-date move times.
Dominion and its partner in the Bath County Pumped Storage Station, Allegheny Energy, apologize for the inconvenience the moves will cause. Your patience will help us complete a project that will mean more tax revenues for Bath County, new jobs for the local area and more reliable electricity to meet the growing needs of Virginia.
| Dominion will make the moves in conjunction with the Virginia Department of Transportation, the Virginia Highway Patrol, the Covington Police Department and the Alleghany and Bath County Sheriffs' Departments. |   |
Upgrade Details
Voith Siemens Hydro Power Generation of York, Pa. was selected by Dominion to provide equipment and installation services. When the plant is fully upgraded, the new turbines will increase the capacity of the plant by 8 percent, increasing each unit’s capacity to 416 megawatts. During the planned outages, in addition to the installation of new pump/turbine and motor/generator equipment, Dominion will install new control systems and excitation equipment. The total cost for the upgrade of the plant equipment will be approximately $90 million. The project began in July, 2003 and will continue for six years. One generating unit at the station will be refurbished each year on a predetermined schedule. |
|
Component Shipments
During the upgrade of each unit, five shipments of over-weight and over-dimensional components for each unit must be completed by a heavyhaul, transportation specialist.
 |
There are two distinct heavy components to be moved. One is a turbine impeller or "runner," and the other is a halfsection of a headcover. The scope of the heavyhaul transportation effort will be a total of 30 shipments. Dominion and Voith have worked together to determine the carrier to perform this work. Each impeller is a new component, manufactured by Voith in York, Pa. specifically for the units at the Bath County Pumped Storage Station. |
The impeller is 21 feet (6.4m) in diameter. It is nearly eight feet (2.4m) in height. The impeller weighs approximately 195,000 lbs. (87,000 kg).
Each headcover section will be semi-circular in shape, approximately 29 feet (8.8m) long, 14 ½ feet (4.4m) wide and six (3.2m) feet thick. Each section will weigh approximately 221,000 lbs (100,000 Kg.). Each headcover will be removed from the unit at the station and taken to the Voith facility in York, Pa. to be reconditioned. When that work is completed at the Voith Siemens facility, the headcovers will then be returned to the power station and re-installed. |
|
