44INAROW
02-13-2008, 12:10 PM
everyone in the office (and every other office on the street) goes outside to watch the BIG TRUCK go through town...... (see below) this huge truck with the generator headed for Calaveras Lake near San Antonio just went passed my office - you'd of thought it was a parade or something - there are more than 100 tires on the trailer carrying the generator.......
www.victoriaadvocate.com
890,000-pound generator hits the road for Calaveras Lake plant
Heavy Metal
BY ALLISON MILES - VICTORIA ADVOCATE
February 12, 2008 - 10:40 p.m.
The larger-than-life machinery supported with 120 wheels nearly made Texas history Tuesday morning.
“It’s the third largest load ever permitted by TxDOT,” said Howard Hawthorne, executive director at the Port of Victoria.
The 890,000-pound steam turbine generator part – manufactured in Japan and discharged from Corpus Christi – made its way to the Port of Victoria by barge.
It remained at the port for more than a week while workers built a special framework for the trip to its final destination: the CPS Energy coal plant on the Calaveras Lake, just southeast of San Antonio.
The plant went online in 1992 with its Spruce 1 plant, said Jim Nesrsta, vice president of power plant construction for CPS Energy.
The piece traveling through Victoria is a stator, Nesrsta said, or the stationary part of the generator. It’s part of the Spruce 2 project, a plant expected to go online in 2010.
“It’s the only coal plant currently under active construction in Texas,” Nesrsta said. “Since the Spruce 1 plant went in, no other coal plants have been built. They’ve all been natural gas.”
But while it hit the roads Tuesday, complete with escorts to help take down signs, traffic lights or overhead wires that could get in the way, it will be a while before San Antonio-area residents catch a glimpse of the massive metal.
“It can only travel in daylight hours and will go about 20 miles a day,” Hawthorne said. “It’s a long road to San Antonio.”
The generator weighs in at a whopping 890,000 pounds. Combine that with the framework and you get 1,130,314 pounds. That's equivalent to about 80 male African elephants.
At more than 262 feet long, it takes up about as much room as 14 pick-ups parked end-to-end.
It measures about 20 feet wide and 21 feet tall. The average travel lane on a Texas state highway is 12 feet wide.
Officials chose the route because of road and bridge conditions. Workers can typically work around traffic, but it's important to ensure structural safety on the travel route.
Through its about 120-mile journey to San Antonio, the generator will travel at 5 to 10 mph. The trip, which takes about two hours by car, could continue through Feb. 26.
Sources: Ford
www.victoriaadvocate.com
890,000-pound generator hits the road for Calaveras Lake plant
Heavy Metal
BY ALLISON MILES - VICTORIA ADVOCATE
February 12, 2008 - 10:40 p.m.
The larger-than-life machinery supported with 120 wheels nearly made Texas history Tuesday morning.
“It’s the third largest load ever permitted by TxDOT,” said Howard Hawthorne, executive director at the Port of Victoria.
The 890,000-pound steam turbine generator part – manufactured in Japan and discharged from Corpus Christi – made its way to the Port of Victoria by barge.
It remained at the port for more than a week while workers built a special framework for the trip to its final destination: the CPS Energy coal plant on the Calaveras Lake, just southeast of San Antonio.
The plant went online in 1992 with its Spruce 1 plant, said Jim Nesrsta, vice president of power plant construction for CPS Energy.
The piece traveling through Victoria is a stator, Nesrsta said, or the stationary part of the generator. It’s part of the Spruce 2 project, a plant expected to go online in 2010.
“It’s the only coal plant currently under active construction in Texas,” Nesrsta said. “Since the Spruce 1 plant went in, no other coal plants have been built. They’ve all been natural gas.”
But while it hit the roads Tuesday, complete with escorts to help take down signs, traffic lights or overhead wires that could get in the way, it will be a while before San Antonio-area residents catch a glimpse of the massive metal.
“It can only travel in daylight hours and will go about 20 miles a day,” Hawthorne said. “It’s a long road to San Antonio.”
The generator weighs in at a whopping 890,000 pounds. Combine that with the framework and you get 1,130,314 pounds. That's equivalent to about 80 male African elephants.
At more than 262 feet long, it takes up about as much room as 14 pick-ups parked end-to-end.
It measures about 20 feet wide and 21 feet tall. The average travel lane on a Texas state highway is 12 feet wide.
Officials chose the route because of road and bridge conditions. Workers can typically work around traffic, but it's important to ensure structural safety on the travel route.
Through its about 120-mile journey to San Antonio, the generator will travel at 5 to 10 mph. The trip, which takes about two hours by car, could continue through Feb. 26.
Sources: Ford