The Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans today announced it has repaired Turbine Five and it is now operational.
The turbine being off line contributed to street flooding a couple of weeks ago.
With Turbine Five back up and running, SWBNO says it can generate 45.5 megawatts of 25Hz power. That is 1.5 megawatts more than their peak demand needs.
Officials warn that leaves them little room for error, and if another source of power were to go offline, drainage capacity would be reduced.
"Even with Turbine 5 back in operation, we cannot be too careful when it comes to high intensity rains," said SWBNO Executive Director Ghassan Korban. "While we have power capacity and the personnel resources to handle this weekend’s forecasted rainfall, we know these turbines may fail at any time. In any instance of failure happens, there is a possibility that draining the streets of New Orleans will take longer than our customers are accustomed to."
