Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1942-01-08
Second Generator
Ready This Month

In mid-January the Bureau OF
Reclamation will throw the switch
t..et will send the output of Grand
Coulee Dams secoai 10000 kilo
watt generator su:-sInS through 60
vernment lines to help turn the
wheels of vital defense industries
in the Pacific Northwest, the Bur ,au
of i:eclama.,ra announced tole.-.
This Titan of 2ower, like its
mate the largest hydro-e!ectric ma
chine in the world, is now unce.,go-
ing a test run. 1t will join the
Grand Coulee- Bonneville power nat
work at time when the nation is
seeking every means to conquer an
aluminium sho taSe lMl r., herwise 10
stock what it intends shall be the
most powerful arsenal III the world
Grand Coulee Dams January coz
tribution will be no small one. The
output of each unit Is enormous
The power plants ultimate inatalia-
ton will be 1,944,00O kilowatts,
the greatest block of power ever de-
veloped at one site.
The new unit, capable of meeting
the needs of an average industrial
city of 100000 people, will be on
the line but two months before the
dam will draft another equally
large army of robust kilowatts, the
output of third generator In 1872
three more will Join the defense for
ces, and in 1914 assistance Will &c
rendered by still another TITO.
Negotiations were recently com.
pleted between the Bureau and the
contractor who completed the dam,
Consolidated Builders. Inc, foT
construction of the right power
house. building which, like the
west shore structure, will hold nine
main units. IT. erection forecasts ad.
diticna1 wartime installation.
The project has been source of
power since March %, 1941, when
two 1O,000-kilowatts station-service
units, intended for servicing only
outlets at the dam site, began feed.
ing the long distribution system
They served in their emergency ca
pacity until October 4 when the
the first of the main dynamos took
over the important assignment.
The second siant is now turning
under the force of waters OF The
Columbia plunging from 133-mile
lIeAervoir, impounded behind the
mightiest .man-made concrete struc-
ture in history, to the river below,
and is being carefully inspected as
it goes through it's test maneuvers..
Special attention is being given
to an eight-foot thrust bearing, in
the top of the machine, running in
bath of 1900 gallons of water.
cooled lubricating oil, from which
Is suspended the 500 ton revolving
section. Various electrical loads are
being applied to permit checking
the generators control, distribution,
and protective equipment.
When ready for actual production
the current fromL-2, as the machine
is technically known. will be circuit
ed through mammoth transformers.
They stand 20 feet high, 20 feet
long and IL feet wide, and weigh
1875 tons each and will step up
the voltage from 1880 to 100000
and send the energy racing at the
speed of light more than 200 miles |
to aluminium plants and other de-
tense industries on the lower Colum |
bia in the southwestern part of the |
state of Washington and In the Pu.
get Sound area,
Construction Of the third unit is |
we'll advanced The turbine Is al |
ready In place, and preparations for
installing generator parts have
reached the point where the stator,
the S7foot stationary outer ring can
be seated. Assembly of the rotor.
587-ton wheel equipped with GO !
giant magnets which spins inside
the stator, is about 70 pc. cent com
plete.
The size of Grand Cou!et, Dams
main units is staggering, the dis
tance from the lower tip of the |
turbine runner or waterwhee to |
the top of the generator is oquiva-