Yuba Water Agency has awarded a contract to GFT Inc. for engineering and design services related to rebuilding the penstock that ruptured above the New Colgate Powerhouse in February.
The initial contract, valued at nearly $2m, covers a condition assessment of the penstock and analysis of repair and replacement options. The work is intended to support detailed engineering design and future construction planning.
“While this contract does not cover the actual construction of the repaired penstock, it does position us to move quickly once we have the results from the forensic investigation,” said Ryan Perrin, Yuba Water’s project manager overseeing the work. “Our goal is to take what we learn from the investigation, develop engineering design plans and award a future construction contract to rebuild the penstock and get us back in business.”
The contract forms part of Yuba Water’s broader recovery programme following the rupture on 13 February, which released around 400 acre-feet of water down the hillside above the New Colgate Powerhouse. The incident caused extensive erosion and damaged the powerhouse, switchyards and sections of Lake Francis Road. Hydropower generation at the facility is expected to remain offline for an extended period while restoration work continues.
The rupture occurred during a planned outage associated with the Colgate Tunnel and Penstock Improvement Project, a maintenance programme intended to improve long-term reliability of the hydropower system. Yuba Water said the powerhouse had not yet returned to service when the incident occurred.
Recovery efforts continue and include investigation of the rupture, repair of Lake Francis Road, hillside stabilisation, debris removal and planning for restoration of the powerhouse and penstock system.
