ROCHELLE — The Rochelle City Council approved a $125,000 professional engineering services agreement with BHMG Engineers, Inc. to begin scoping a new turbine for the city’s future generation capacity. The first phase of the project includes a preliminary assessment of turbine needs, general arrangement drawings, a one-line diagram, procurement support, and collaboration with natural gas suppliers.
Rochelle Superintendent of Electric Operations and Generation Blake Toliver said they would sell the existing Caterpillar engines.
“ They’re straight diesel fuel. They’re a high RPM engine, not built for longevity really. They’re more of a black start unit,” he said. “Looking to sell those possibly while they’re still worth some money and, and replace them with two larger turbines or something of that size.”
Toliver said this would be the first step in replacing the turbines with newer, more efficient dual fuel models.