Adding to the City of Waterloo’s power generating capacity, Solar Turbines Incorporated delivered and Barnhart Crane & Rigging performed the heavy lifting to place a new turbine generator safely on a prepared pad in the city’s utility yard on Thursday.

The dual-fueled Taurus 70 combustion turbine package with 13.2 kV generator includes liquid fuel storage and natural gas connections. 

City officials have said this third turbine for the power plant is needed to further meet current and future electrical demands.

Limbaugh Construction of Granite City was contracted for installation of this combustion turbine package at a cost of $5.6 million. 

The installation cost adds to the purchase of the new turbine itself, which was made with Solar Turbines at a cost of $11.5 million.

This third turbine adds to the Waterloo plant’s three Caterpillar generators and two turbines, which can be used interchangeably based on demand.

Waterloo, as a member of the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency, is compensated by the agency for having the ability to call on its generation unit and the city’s fuel costs are paid for those units when they run during critical times of high demand on the electric grid.