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Generation
The City has 5 main generation sites. The picture above is the largest plant with 16 generators. However, even though it is the largest, it does not have the largest output. Each of these generators has an output of about 1.55Megawatts of power. In comparison, the City's normal or average operating load is about 100Megawatts.

The generation sites have a lot of similarites to the substation when it comes to electrical principles and protection. The generators do not output regular line voltage so there is a transformer there, however it steps the voltage up instead of down. There are still breakers and protective relays as well. One new step for the generators is how they operate. All of the plants operate in what we call the Peak Operation mode and some of them operate as standby.

Peak Operation
Peak operation mode is the mode where the City makes money with its generators. The current contract with Dominion Power allows the City, along with six other cities, to reduce their load during Dominion Power's peak demand. Since the City's bill is based on our load during this peak hour, if we reduce it, we pay less for our overall electric consumption. In general the City saves about $500,000 a month by operating the generators in this mode. The savings is passed along to the customers since we are a non-profit organization.

Standby Operation
A few of the generators have the ability to operate in a standby mode. The standby mode is used when normal electrical power is lost and unavailable. Because of the output power of the generators, they are generally reserved for sites such as the airport, emergency shelters, and essential services like the Water Plant. Some customers have their own standby generation. If standby generation is not installed in a home properly it can cause serious damage or death to electric personnel and equipment. The main source of power must be disconnected when the standby power is operating.