Town of Highland, Indiana Standby Power Engine-Generators
The number of Highland’s sanitary pump stations had grown to nine. A severe storm knocked out electrical power in four stations at once in the middle of the night. Public Works got out the portable engine-generator and traveled from station to station during the storm; plugging in, lowering the wet well level, unplugging and moving to the next station.
For improved safety and reliability, the Town decided to install permanent engine-generation equipment at six critical locations. NIES Engineering provided engineering services for the installation of five natural gas fueled engine-generators ranging in size from 35KW to 100KW, and one 600KW diesel fueled unit.
Several installations were located adjacent to residences. To be a good neighbor, the Town approved sound attenuation systems and special landscaping. Sound attenuation systems included insulation material, cooling air baffling and critical grade engine exhaust silencers. Sound attenuation systems achieved noise reductions to 69 decibels on 100KW units and to 75 decibels on the 600KW unit.
Additional features included a secondary standby power connection for the portable engine-generator, a general engine-generator failure alarm, automatic transfer to generator power upon normal power failure, automatic exercising of the engine-generator, and optional bidding for extending equipment warranty to 5 years or 1500 hours of operation.
The Town of Highland now enjoys the security of permanent standby power for their sanitary pump stations, and their Public Works Department has one less thing to worry about during a storm.