Transcript
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A I A Ct r I C sFonreHr oN cRrncAr ENERG' rssuEsg t g
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n early 2006, it became apparent that the attempt to
extend the life of the 1,500 MW coal fired Mohave
Generating Station (MGS) would not be successful
(SRP's 20"/" porrion of MGS equaled 300MW's)' SRP
then had to scramble to add new coal fired power generatlon
to replace that lost by Mohave's closing. The option selected
was to construct Unit 4 at the Tucson Electric Power (TEP)
plant site outside Springerville, Arizona. Unit 4 had received
all the necessary permits when both Units 3 and 4 were
permitted. Tri-State's Unit 3 was nearing completion.
SRP's Board approved moving forward with the
Sprir-rgervi l le 4 project on May L, 2006. The 400MW
subcrit ical plant would be essential ly identical to Unit 3, with
the addition of various modifications intended to improve
plant operability and reduce maintenance costs. Unit 4
wor-rld also have the benefit of "lessons learned" from the
construction and init ial operation of Unit 3. Unit 4 would be
owned by SRP and operated by TEP.Detail Engineering commenced immediately as studies
and prel iminary engineering were unnecessary due to the
repl icat ion of Unit 3. The boi ler, steam turbine, generator
and air quality control system were awarded to the same
suppliers who had provided the Unit 3 equipment. The
project schedule was 44 months from start to commercial
operation. (A typical coal plant schedule is 60 months or
more.) The prolect had to be completed and placed into
commercial operation by the end of 2009. This was dictated
by the expirat ion of the Air Permit on December 3L, 2009.
Fortunateln SRP had an in-house team of experienced
project management professionals who had recently
constructed 1,L00 MW's of gas f ired, combined cycle
power generation. Little did they know that Springerville 4
was headed into the "perfect storm" in terms of material,
equipment and construction labor cost escalat ion coupled
with a scarcity of qualified suppliers and contractors. The
,'r"/t-.' ;ri{b }'s
project would ult imately cost one bi l l ion dol lars.
Because of the short schedule, i t was determined that the
substructures (concrete and underground) work would need
to be awarded on unit prices based on prel iminary quanti t ies.
The award was made at approximately 507" completion of
the substructures engineering. This, in turn, led to extensive
revisions in constnction drawings. Drawing revisions of 15 to
20 became commonplace. In fact, there were instances where
concrete pours were actual ly halted due to the last minute
receipt of a revised drawing. This was further exacerbated by
the very late receipt of vendor drawings. The vendors were
overloaded and had no abi l i ty to staff-up with experienced
people to handle their 2006 -2007 workloads' Along with
other new power plants, SRP would also be competing for
resources with many "back-end" emissions controls proiects
mandated by the EPA.Structural steel erection needed to commence within
a year of the project 's notice to proceed. This was another
chal lenge as China was locking up worldwide steel production.
SRP immediately went to a trusted steel supplier they had
used on previous proiects. They told the steel supplier to get
started and the paperwork would follow. The steel supplier
turned down much larger proiects just two weeks after SRP
contracted with them because they had reached their capacity
limit. In fact, they had to use their alliance agreements with
other steel suppliers to ensure timely delivery of SRP's steel.
The steel was fast-tracked through mill rr-rns, fabrication
drawings, shop fabrication and jobsite delivery. However,
it still became necessary to issue a cost-plus contract to an
industry renowned steel erector who did exceptionally well
under very difficult circumstances; performing any necessary
modifications to the steel in the field as drawing revisions
continued up to the last minute.Next, a boiler erector needed to be selected. Unfortunatel5
there were no takers. Everyone was busy on other projects.
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There's more at MerrickMerrick's client-focused project delivery teams have served the energy industry since thefirm's founding in 1955. At the core of our services is an understanding of your business,operations, industry, and marketplace conditions. That understanding is combined with theexpertise of the firm's talented professionals to deliver vital solutions that work.
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Contact: Chris Biondolilo, PE - Project Manager2450 South Peoria StreetAurora, C0 80014-5475303-353-3876
Dls t r ibu led Genera t ion
Renewab le Energy
Biomass Ut r laza t ion
Control and Data Acquisit ion
MERRICK"E conApEFiV
Employee 0wned
TOWI LL | :,1,1'sl{'B; $l,r,t'n
303.974.7270 ext. 401J ohn. Bloodgood@towill. com
www.towill.com
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