Power

D22

Cell Lead: Ice Cream
Cell Members: Wifi, Watchtower

Some thoughts to start D23 power rethink by Ice Cream

1. We might ask Aggreko for a discount considering the 300kW was not delivered, the 200kW back up had a circuit breaker failure until replaced Sunday w/300kW whose low oil pressure was not solved until Monday of burn week.

2. I'll reach out to the other seven OSS providers for quotes based on the equipment we needed this year. I'll assume same footprint w/208 campers.
- FYI, CES & Amergen both provided fuel to their gensets when Hell imploded
- Amergen estimated $15k for 125kW genset and distro for 300 people

3. Key next year is two 100-125kW or three 75-100kW gensets, that will reduce fuel use and give us redundancy. We should allow all loads to run (a/c when folks away), but have a plan IF we run into trouble, such as a big board by front egress for announcements and using meal time to share such messages.

4. Primary wish is to provide our own diesel. Maybe we rent a truck, or even easier a tank we put on the back of a truck. I'm sourcing double walled solutions (like below) in case we get permission:
- https://hartfueling.com/services/fuel-tank-rental/
- https://dieseldirect.com/fuel-storage-tanks
- https://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equipment-rental/generators-and-accessories/fuel-tanks/

Please share the diesel bill when you have it.

Notes by Watchtower

The main genset was supposed to be installed Tuesday of build, it fell off a truck(!) we got one labeled “spare” installed late afternoon weds. That’s the one that had repeated failures unrelated to fuel. Eventually we got the bigger replacement Sunday, the worked well except when it was out of diesel.

Notes by WiFi

1. First 300kW generator falls off a truck on the way to the burn by Aggreko. Diesel everywhere on that highway, can't really recover it. We are delivered their spare 200kW generator instead.
2. 200kW generator had a bad controller, but it wasn't exhibiting it obviously. We originally thought it was an issue with the triple phase balance... so you saw us basically shifting RV loads and yelling at each other in the dust. We get about 2-4 generator shutdowns a day as we voodoo this and limp along on power.
3. Aggreko get an extra 300kW generator but they're not allowed to deliver it since they're under forklift restriction from org due to dropping one earlier. They get it to us at Sunday 8/28 around 5pm after a day.
4. New generator hasn't had maintenance on it. Oil pressure goes low, the generator shuts itself down, and we get back online with an oil change.
5. Rolling cases of running out of fuel: Hell doesn't deliver the full amount because they think we have 150 gal when we need 250 gal. This eventually is fixed.
6. Watchtower makes a ton of trips to Hell as they don't get us deliveries regularly. The man takes an injury for us here going to Hell too, but this is how we get gas.
7. Whiteout on burn day means no deliveries again. So we shut down for burn night since there's not enough fuel.
8. Delivery on Sunday is late because there's not enough fuel delivery people with mobile ops.

Power requiem by Ice Cream

1. Stringers have 3x20A circuits, each circuit has four Edison plugs which should support two small wall a/cs per circuit: 5000 BTU = ~5Amps. In future, we should "rate" the a/cs and keep large ones on separate circuits.
2. If we could rent a 2000 gallon diesel fuel truck and tuck away in camp, we'd have ALL our fuel at $4/gallon instead of $8/gallon... It's radical self reliance solution that we should push.
3. In future we'll do two 125-150 kW or three 75-100kW gensets in parallel. When load goes up, 2nd/3rd kicks on, and we pay less for lower duty cycle on 2nd/3rd while also having them as back up.
4. Fuel use on 300kW was high... night low 30kW used 4 gal/hr, while day peak 163 kW used 10 gal/hr.. smaller gensets at 80% capacity will be more efficient.
5. We should audit all small gensets available and have them ready for kitchen, lasers, lights & sound at night in case we want to shut down to conserve fuel, or have a failure.
6. Everyone should label their extension cords w/name on tape to help us know what goes where, and we should do audit of what we have to layout some extensions in stringer gaps.
7. With more accurate camp loads in future, we will place more plugs where they need to be... this was our first year, and next year will be better.
8. Please if you have specific feedback about your situation, post it in Disorient Discord power channel so we address it next year. Power is expensive, and we don't want any hiccups next year while we continue to tighten the belt for more firewood budget!

D17