Garnett City leaders are looking at a $4.4 million project to replace and refurbish the city’s electrical generators to get them federally compliant and hopefully prevent an emergency blackout in the city in a time of need. Representatives from the Kansas Municipal Energy Agency discussed the project with City Commissioners earlier this month and outlined the repair and replacement project that would upgrade two generators and replace others, allowing the retirement of three whose lifespan can’t be extended, due to their advanced age.
The generators are used as backup electricity source for the City when its main power feed from Evergy becomes interrupted. City Manager, Travis Wilson, says current generators are out of compliance with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. He says the Southwest Power Pool has started doing inspections on plants and if they don’t meet certain specifications with regard to generation, they can’t generate at all. If another event like last year’s comes around, Garnett would be in the dark until Evergy could get the City back up.
