Journal-World Staff Reports
In Baldwin they need electricity to make electricity, so without electricity they can't make electricity.
Or that's how City Administrator Larry Paine explained the problem that left citizens without light deep into Saturday night.
Power was knocked out in Baldwin at about 2:30 p.m. Saturday when lightning struck a power line feeding the city.
Baldwin purchases electricity from the Board of Public Utilities of Kansas City, Kan., and Kansas City Power & Light
"It blew one of their lines down, which was the feed to us," Paine said.
While the utility company went to work fixing the power line problem, Baldwin electrical utility employees went to work trying to fire up the generators.
The generators are two railroad diesel engines.
This is where the need for electricity to make electricity begins.
Paine said that to start the generators, compressed air is needed. To make compressed air, electricity is needed.
Primarily, the generators in Baldwin are used for making electricity that exceeds the regular demand of 4 megawatts, which is purchased from the utilities.
When the demand exceeds that level, Baldwin fires up the generators, which can turn out up to 5 megawatts of power per hour. A megawatt is a million watts.
Baldwin residents calling the Journal-World about 9 p.m. said power was off in most of the city, though they said lights could be seen in the west part of Baldwin.
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