Instead of trying to fix a $10 million engine for Lakeland Electric’s new power plant that was damaged in an Oct. 17 train derailment, the manufacturing company is going to ship a new one.
The damaged unit was one of six high-efficiency, 680,000-pound reciprocating internal combustion engines (RICE) that will power the utility’s “next generation” McIntosh Reciprocating Engine Plant.
Initially, utility administrators thought the engine might be fixable. But once it was hoisted off the CSX tracks and inspected, the damage was more serious than it looked.
David Holdener, Lakeland Electric’s project manager for the plant, said all of the engine’s nine heads were destroyed.
“MAN (Energy Solutions) has officially informed Lakeland Electric that they will replace Engine #1 with a new one. The new engine is currently being configured in France and is expected to arrive in Lakeland in March 2024,” Lakeland Electric spokeswoman Cathryn Lacy told LkldNow.
The engine was fully insured. Work to install the other five units is continuing in the meantime.
“We believe that this replacement will not affect our timeline for completing the power plant,” Lacy said.
The RICE plant is more than a year behind schedule and $29.4 million over budget, but it is scheduled to start operating in November 2024.
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