IID approves agreement to expand capacity at canal

The Imperial Irrigation District voted on Tuesday to approve an agreement between the agency the city of San Diego and Bureau of Reclamation to relieve San Diego of their fees related to their delivery capacity at the All-American Canal.

The city of San Diego completed repayment of the All-American Canal costs in 1993 and funded the city’s corresponding operation and maintenance expenses through 2013 when it stopped.

“They disagree with being charged a fee for capacity they’re not using,” said Water Manager Tina Shields. She noted the city had disagreements with that fee for decades prior to 2013. The proposal presented translates into the IID taking over the capacity the city of San Diego had in exchange taking over the operation and maintenance costs.

Shields said the annual added cost for the IID will vary from $120,000 to $150,000.

The board voted unanimously in favor of the agreement.

Repairs

The board planned on making a decision regarding the appropriate action needed to repair the gas turbine engine at its Niland Unit 1 which experienced a catastrophic failure on Jan. 5. The engine had to be removed and sent back to the manufacturer’s repair depot in Houston to be repaired.

According to the agenda backup material repairing the engine could cost the IID between $3.7 million and $5.5 million and a new engine exchange up to $7.8 million. However before any discussion took place Energy Manager Vicken Kasarjian informed the board that during the weekend Niland Unit 2 also failed and asked the board to allow him to bring the board a major work authorization for both repairs at the next meeting.

“I request your patience to bring the full package to you at the next board meeting, and in the meantime, I have instructed my staff to proceed with the corrective action for unit 2,” Kasarjian said.

During the meeting, staff gave the board details of the failure that occurred at unit 1 where a crack in the combustions section of the engine caused the heat shield to get lose and get shredded by the turbine.