CENTERTON — Residents living near Indianapolis Power and Light Co.’s Eagle Valley Generating Station off Blue Bluff Road in Morgan County are getting an earful these days, and they’re ready to return the favor.
In recent weeks, IPL has been testing and cleaning the pipework that will be used in the new natural gaspowered electrical plant, which is scheduled to be up and running by early 2018. The process, called “steam blowing,” involves highpressured steam being pushed through the pipes and turbines, before ultimately getting vented into the atmosphere. By doing so, IPL can make sure it’s a clean system — and clean steam — once the power plant goes live next year.
“Steam is used to blow particles — rust and all of the debris — out of all the pipes that have been sitting for a couple of years,” said Claire Dalton, public relations manager for IPL. “And unfortunately, it’s really, really loud, and we are aware of that. But it is not at all typical of what the plant will sound like once it’s in operation.”
Complaints have surfaced in recent weeks from residents in the area who are at their wits’ end about the “really, really loud” noise levels. One, who lives 4 miles away, said that conversations outside are all but impossible when the steam blowing occurs.
A visit to the site Thursday confirmed that residents may have reason to be upset. With steam billowing high into the sky, the associated sound was similar to a jet engine’s turbines preparing for takeoff, requiring “double ear protection” for workers at the site. And according to two residents who live nearby, Thursday’s noise was only “about half throttle.”
“If it was at full throttle, we wouldn’t be able to talk to each other, even if we were shouting,” resident Paul Hammock said in a raised voice Thursday afternoon, standing outside the house he and his wife purchased in June.
Before they bought the home, which sits across the street from the power plant, the couple was reassured the generating station would not have a negative impact on their home life or property value. Now, Hammock is worried.
“We’ll never be able to sell it with that going on,” he said Thursday.
Hammock, along with other residents in the area, got a letter in late October from IPL that notified them of the pending steam blowing that “could last up to four weeks” and warned them that it “will create an elevated noise from the current background noise.”
According to Dalton, the contractor performing the testing is doing all it can to complete the work by “the beginning of December.” But in order to do so, it’s going to require long days — and weekends.
“We can anticipate the steam blows to occur during weekdays/weekends between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.,” Dalton wrote in a follow-up email Thursday, adding that residents will at least get one day of reprieve next week. “IPL has asked the contractor not to perform the steam blows on Thanksgiving Day.”
That news did little to reassure residents, who are fed up with the deafening noise, rattling windows and interruption to normal life.
“My wife and I were watching TV the other night and we had the volume at 90 — almost full blast,” Hammond said. “Finally, I turned to my wife and said, ‘Let’s get out of here.’”
They jumped in the car and left to get away from the noise.
Dalton was sympathetic to the complaints, hoping residents can be patient for a few more weeks as crews work hard to get the new electrical-generation plant up and running.
“Again, I’d like to reiterate that this loud noise is temporary and we anticipate the steam blows to be completed within the next three weeks,” she wrote, adding that things will quiet down dramatically after that.
“That level of noise is certainly not going to be the expectation moving forward.”