WEBVTT 00:07.733 --> 00:09.089 - My name is Les Rice. 00:09.089 --> 00:11.321 ^I'm with the Army Corps of Engineers. 00:11.321 --> 00:14.539 ^I'm in the 4B Section Program of the Operator 00:14.539 --> 00:15.872 Trainee Program. 00:15.943 --> 00:19.360 Behind us here, we're in Thurman Powerhouse. 00:19.360 --> 00:22.192 This is one of seven units that we are currently 00:22.192 --> 00:23.504 standing on here. 00:23.504 --> 00:26.782 They are rated at 54 million watts each. 00:26.782 --> 00:30.699 Roughly one unit can power around 54,000 homes. 00:31.966 --> 00:34.867 (loud industrial noise) 00:34.867 --> 00:38.104 Okay, now we're down here below the generator. 00:38.104 --> 00:40.612 We're actually standing on top of the head cover. 00:40.612 --> 00:43.024 Now the head cover is what separates the lake water 00:43.024 --> 00:45.631 from the inside of the powerhouse. 00:45.631 --> 00:49.798 Now below our lake head cover here is the turbine. 00:49.966 --> 00:52.776 The turbine is actually connected to the shaft 00:52.776 --> 00:53.938 that we see here. 00:53.938 --> 00:58.105 The shaft rotates at 100 RPMs as governed by the generator 00:58.872 --> 00:59.705 above us. 01:01.500 --> 01:03.507 Alright this is our main power exciter. 01:03.507 --> 01:06.036 Our exciter is responsible for being able to create 01:06.036 --> 01:08.418 the magnetic field in our rotor. 01:08.418 --> 01:10.548 The reason that we need this is because our rotor is not 01:10.548 --> 01:12.965 a permanent magnet generator. 01:13.158 --> 01:15.029 Since it's not a permanent magnet generator, 01:15.029 --> 01:18.373 we can use our exciter here to be able to boost 01:18.373 --> 01:21.206 our voltage on this system itself. 01:21.284 --> 01:24.842 So if the system starts getting lagged down a little bit, 01:24.842 --> 01:26.848 or our voltage creeps a little high, 01:26.848 --> 01:29.265 we can adjust that from here. 01:46.644 --> 01:48.550 Behind me you see the tainter gates, 01:48.550 --> 01:51.878 also known as the flood gates here at Thurman. 01:51.878 --> 01:54.295 There is a total of 23 gates. 01:54.339 --> 01:58.172 They can be lifted up to a maximum of 40 feet. 01:58.281 --> 01:59.987 To give you any idea, that amount of water 01:59.987 --> 02:02.093 that these tainter gates can hold back, 02:02.093 --> 02:05.716 the most that the city of Augusta can actually handle 02:05.716 --> 02:08.289 is around a foot and half if all the gates 02:08.289 --> 02:09.539 open uniformly. 02:09.601 --> 02:13.768 So a total of a foot and a half would be around 40,000 CFS. 02:14.926 --> 02:17.500 Alright, now we're in the pen stock area of the powerhouse. 02:17.500 --> 02:20.320 This is actually the lowest point within the powerhouse. 02:20.320 --> 02:23.349 The pen stock is actually the pipe, if you will, 02:23.349 --> 02:26.157 that connects the head water, which is to the right 02:26.157 --> 02:27.874 of us here behind this wall. 02:27.874 --> 02:31.357 The head water then travels down through the pen stock, 02:31.357 --> 02:33.898 actually goes to the scroll case where it enters 02:33.898 --> 02:35.174 into the turbine. 02:35.174 --> 02:36.495 It actually turns the turbine. 02:36.495 --> 02:38.440 When the turbine turns, it turns the shaft, 02:38.440 --> 02:41.273 which in turn turns the generator. 02:41.434 --> 02:44.644 Alright, behind me here you see the main power transformers. 02:44.644 --> 02:46.923 Now the main power transformers is connected 02:46.923 --> 02:48.423 to our main units. 02:48.494 --> 02:51.382 Our main units produce 13,800 volts. 02:51.382 --> 02:53.230 It comes to our transformer. 02:53.230 --> 02:54.814 That's considered low voltage. 02:54.814 --> 02:58.134 The transformer turns it from 13,800 volts 02:58.134 --> 02:59.717 into 115,000 volts. 03:00.777 --> 03:02.982 The reason that we want to go there and transform 03:02.982 --> 03:06.414 that power is because 115,000 volts as your volts 03:06.414 --> 03:08.542 goes up your current goes down. 03:08.542 --> 03:10.910 As a result, we can use a lot smaller power lines 03:10.910 --> 03:15.077 for residential areas as well as the current being 03:15.233 --> 03:17.566 lowered down is also a plus. 03:18.259 --> 03:19.794 Alright, here we're in the control room. 03:19.794 --> 03:22.127 Now we've seen the generators, we've seen the turbines, 03:22.127 --> 03:23.746 transformer deck, and so forth. 03:23.746 --> 03:25.779 And all those controls are located here within 03:25.779 --> 03:27.196 the control room. 03:27.627 --> 03:30.298 Now the control room, as you see behind us, on each panel 03:30.298 --> 03:34.141 we can monitor each one of our generators as well as any 03:34.141 --> 03:38.308 of our lines that are located out in our switch yard. 03:39.366 --> 03:42.989 Now we produce the power here in the powerhouse. 03:42.989 --> 03:45.868 Control it through the control room here, 03:45.868 --> 03:49.398 and actually can route the power, either it be Georgia 03:49.398 --> 03:50.898 or South Carolina.