Powerhouse - Electrical Switchgear Area


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The large switches and circuit breakers that controlled the power flowing in and out of this facility lie behind this fence. When in operation, Allied Paper ran not only off of this powerhouse, but off of two other power plants on the premises (one attached to Mill D, and one to Mill A or B), and also Consumers' Power, the electric utility. Much of the equipment in this area appears to deal with the regulation and switching of power from these various sources.

 

Some meters outside the fence displayed the status of various electrical connections. C. Demaine adds that the "lamecoid" (which evidently refers to a certain type of nameplate), reading 2300 Feeder means 2300 volts, and that the GE devices are protection relays for the transformer.

 

Behind the fence now, one observes a long row of gages and switches. C. Demaine says that these devices predate him, but that they may be open-air disconnects. Additionally, they are indeed marked 2300 volts. This seems to be the main operating voltage for much of the feed equipment in this plant.

 

 

A switch up close - I don't think there's any danger of it starting now!

(When we first explored this facility, the substations outside of the Powerhouse and Mill D were still energized by the electric utility, and one or two indicator lights were lit on equipment panels inside the Powerhouse. Mill C did not have its own substation, but the building was fully energized including machinery and lighting, so we suspect that it was powered by the large substation next to Mill D. About a week after some sort of bankruptcy court hearing occurred, Consumers' Energy dismantled the large substation by Mill D, and disconnected the substation outside the powerhouse, causing the indicator lights in the Powerhouse, and everything in Mill C to go dark. There is now no electrical service to any part of the factory to my knowledge.)

 

An AC ammeter whose scale goes up to 600 amps. At the high voltages typically used in this plant, that would have added up to quite a lot of power!

 

The wiring conduits for some of the switchgear look orderly and impressive.

 

A conduit to a rather sizeable generator (1,200,000 VA).

 

And one to a feed from Consumers'.

More images from this location [electrical switchgear].

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