Western Farmers Electric Cooperative's Board of Trustees and distribution cooperative staff were on hand for the recent groundbreaking ceremony, hosted at the future site of two new GE Vernova aeroderivative LM6000VELOX generators. These new units will expand the Anadarko Plant to 650 megawatts (MW) of output.
The new turbines are named Roulet 12 and 13, in honor of Gary Roulet, the current CEO of WFEC who will soon celebrate 50 years with the generation and transmission cooperative. WFEC’s Board of Trustees felt the naming of the units was appropriate since Roulet has been instrumental in this project and it is under his leadership the project was discussed, planned and now will soon be underway.
Steam units have served WFEC’s Anadarko Plant for more than 60 years will be replaced with innovative technology identical to other units already existing at this location. Planning for this project has been underway for several years, with evaluation of technologies, engineers and construction companies.
These aeroderivative units, derived from jet-engine technology have the ability to start quickly and ramp up/down quickly. This capability is important to follow variable renewable generation assets like wind turbines and solar farms slightly less predictable by their very nature. Conversely, the LM6000s rely on clean burning natural gas to power them and will be a great complement to WFEC’s robust portfolio of almost 1,000 MW of renewable projects already in service or scheduled to be in service by the end of the decade.
Donnie Bidegain, President of the WFEC Board of Trustees, noted the Board started talking about adding capacity during a strategic retreat in March of 2023, which was followed by collaborative efforts among personnel who were all dedicated to this task.
Roulet explained this project is good for Anadarko – the Anadarko Plant – and for WFEC’s cooperative members for many years to come. “Our Board had the long-term foresight of building new capacity, plus a great vision for the future by ensuring adequate capacity, and high reliability for rural members, at a time when it is needed,” Roulet noted.
“Adding two more combustion turbines identical to the existing five units at the Anadarko Plant, will increase reliability, lower maintenance costs, and help keep electric rates as low as possible for our distribution members,” he said.
“Retiring units 1, 2 and 3 were obsolete units only running sparingly, and inefficient. The retiring units using existing transmission for units 12 and 13 are new, efficient and state of the art, providing benefits to cooperative retail members as soon as they are commercial,” Roulet pointed out.
“The cooperative model ‘owned by those we serve’ sends a clear message to keep electricity reliable and affordable,” he noted.
“I appreciate the Board of Trustees’ commitment to the future generation needs of our member-owner distribution cooperatives,” said Justin Soderberg, WFEC’s Vice President of Generation.
WFEC has been working with Sargent and Lundy as the engineer for the addition of Roulet Units 12 and 13. Sargent and Lundy have worked hand in hand with WFEC staff on selecting the appropriate technology for these new units and developing a turbine specification.
Construction of the new units will start in late 2024 and finish in late 2026.