Baldwin City Electric Utility Interesting Facts
KMEA to honor Baldwin City Electric Utility
- A city-wide vote in 1905 was 3 to 1 in favor of starting an Electric Utility
- Estimated cost of Power Plant in 1906 was $1250.00
- Baldwin City's first power plant was designed by a Baker University Professor
- First installation had two engines capable of producing 70 Kilowatts of power
- When the power plant was first put into service, electricity was only provided from sundown to sunrise, and only for lights
- Around the clock production of electricity did not start until 1908
- In 1908, Cost of electricity was around $0.10 per KWH
- The City presently has approximately 35.33 miles of primary lines in operation
- Nameplate capacity is 5.4 megawatts at plant # 1, and 6.3 megawatts at plant # 2
- 11.7 megawatts of generation capacity, 2.5 megawatts of BPU ( Nearman Station ), and 3.0 megawatts of GRDA ( Grand River Dam Authority ) or 17.2 total
- In Summer of 2006 we set an all time new City peak of 9.462 mwh on July 19th at 5:00 pm. During that time, we were generating almost 6 megawatts of our own electricity
- A typical winter day will peak about 4.0 mwh. At night the load will dip into the 1.9 mwh range
- History of Generating Units in Power Plant
- 1907 — 80 Hp Engine Producing 53KW
- 1907 — 25 Hp Engine Producing 17KW
- 1917 — 165 Hp Engine Producing 112KW
- 1922 — 180 Hp Engine Producing 120KW
- 1938 — 250 Hp Engine Producing 168KW
- 1946 — 540 Hp Engine Producing 370KW
- 1950 — 900 Hp Engine Producing 635KW
- 1956 — 1,600 Hp Engine Producing 1,100KW
- 1962 — 1,600 Hp Engine Producing 1,136KW
- 1962 — 1,600 Hp Engine Producing 1,136KW
- 1970 — 2,880 Hp Engine Producing 2,070KW
- 2004 — Baldwin City opens Power Plant #2
- 2004 — Power Plant #2 provides 2 engines each producing 3,200KW
