Overview Glen Canyon Dam is located on the Colorado River in Arizona just south of the Utah border. The powerplant, at toe of the dam, consists of eight generators, driven by eight 155,500 horsepower turbines. Total nameplate generating capacity for the powerplant is 1,296,000 kilowatts.

The following are excerpts from a letter received from the Owner’s representative, Rusty Gattis, for this project: “GARDNER ZEMKE was awarded a contract to replace the generator switchgear assemblies at the Glen Canyon Powerplant on April 5, 1999. The delivery and installation completion date was June 15, 2000. Most other companies interested in the switchgear contract commented that the contract could not be completed in time. GARDNER ZEMKE not only completed delivery and installation on time, but completed three months before the completion date of the contract and at the same time minimized the unavailability time of the powerplant generators.” “… I have been impressed with your employees efforts, skills, and knowledge. I cannot count the numerous complements that I have heard from the Glen Canyon staff regarding your employees abilities.” “The way your company conducts business has lead to the most satisfactory relationship that I have had working with any contractor.”

Details This project involved the replacement of all eight main generator circuit breakers at the Glen Canyon Powerplant. We removed two existing 8000 AMP, 15 kV air blast breakers and associated isolated phase bus during each of four outages, which each lasted approximately four weeks. The existing breakers were replaced with new 8000 AMP, 15 kV rated, SF 6 Gas breakers manufactured in Zurich, Switzerland. Work included extending the isolated-phase bus to the new circuit breakers from the generators and from the circuit breakers to the power transformers. Work also included minor concrete foundation work, new structural steel supports, and aluminum bus welding.