Chouteau Power Plant Offline After Fire

The Grand River Dam Authority said Tuesday its Chouteau power generation plant is still off line after a fire on Friday evening.

Unit 2 of the coal-fired plant caught fire Friday evening after a lightning strike.

7/1/2016: Related Story: GRDA: Chouteau Plant Catches Fire After Lightning Strike

GRDA spokesman Justin Alberty said the lightning strike shut down a pump which cools one of the plant's two turbines.  Workers attempted to restart the pump but failed and the turbine in Unit 2 overheated and started a fire.

7/2/2016: Related Story: GRDA Begins Damage Assessment After Chouteau Power Plant Fire

Alberty said GRDA is still assessing the damage so it doesn't know how much it will cost to repair the damage or how long it will take.

He said the authority hasn't restarted Unit 1 yet because it's still being inspected for damage. Alberty said other power plants in the region will take up the slack while this station is off line.