CONSUMERS ENERGY CO

Incident Narrative

ON JANUARY 23, 2022 AT APPROXIMATELY 22:41 HOURS CONSUMERS ENERGY WAS NOTIFIED OF A POSSIBLE GAS RELEASE AT THE RAY COMPRESSOR STATION. RAY COMPRESSOR STATION IS LOCATED AT 69333 OMO ROAD, ARMADA, (MACOMB COUNTY) MICHIGAN. A STATION MECHANIC WAS DISPATCHED AND ARRIVED AT THE SITE AT APPROXIMATELY 23:25 HOURS. UPON ARRIVAL THE MECHANIC COMMUNICATED WITH EMERGENCY RESPONDERS THAT WERE ALREADY AT THE SITE AND PROCEEDED INTO THE PLANT TO DETERMINE THE SOURCE OF THE RELEASE. THE MECHANIC DISCOVERED GAS BLOWING FROM THE RELIEF VALVE (RV-22) ON THE PLANT 1 FILTER-SEPARATOR EQUIPMENT. PLANT 1 PROCESSING EQUIPMENT WAS SHUT-IN AND ISOLATED FROM THE STORAGE FIELD ELIMINATING ANY POTENTIAL HAZARDS AND ALLOWING FOR FURTHER INVESTIGATION. OPERATIONS EMPLOYEES BEGAN INVESTIGATING ON JANUARY 24, 2022. DURING THE INVESTIGATION, IT WAS DETERMINED RAY COMPRESSOR STATION RELIEF VALVE (RV-22) EXPERIENCED AN ABNORMAL OPERATING CONDITION, RV-22 ACTIVATION OCCURRED AT 1389 PSIG INSTEAD OF THE SET POINT ACTIVATION OF 1926 PSIG. THE PREMATURE ACTIVATION OCCURRED BECAUSE OF THE PRESENCE OF FOREIGN MATERIAL. DURING AN EXTERNAL EVALUATION OF THE RELIEF VALVE, EXCESSIVE LUBRICANT WAS VISUALLY OBSERVED AND AN INTERNAL INSPECTION OF THE RELIEF BLOWDOWN VALVE IDENTIFIED A FAILED O-RING, THE COMBINATION OF THE EXCESSIVE LUBRICANT AND THE FAILED O-RING CAUSED TO RELIEF VALVE TO FAIL. IMMEDIATE CORRECTIVE ACTIONS WERE IMPLEMENTED AND THE CONTROL VALVE WAS REBUILT, BENCH TESTED AND FIELD TESTED PRIOR TO RETURNING THE EQUIPMENT TO NORMAL OPERATIONS. ADDITIONAL CORRECTIVE ACTIONS AND EXTENT OF CONDITION IS BEING EVALUATED TO MINIMIZE FUTURE OCCURRENCE ACROSS THE SYSTEM.