In the U.S. alone, Aker Kvaerner is building or has recently completed a total of ten power plants with a combined capacity of more than 4,000 megawatts (MW). The engineering and construction of power generation plants in the USA is an important and rapidly growing part of Aker Kvaerner’s business.
Construction of the 540 MW Osprey combined cycle power generating project began in November 2001 and is currently progressing on schedule with mechanical completion targeted for December 2003 and commercial operation for April 2004. AKIC’s scope of work for the USD113 million contract includes procurement of balance of plant equipment, site management, site clearance, underground utilities, all foundations, structural steel, mechanical equipment installation, interconnecting piping, electrical requirements, systems turnover and start-up assistance.
The Osprey Energy Center is the second largest project being built by AKIC for Calpine Corporation. It is adjacent to Archlight and Calpine’s jointly owned 150 MW Auburndale Energy Center. The energy campus includes Calpine’s new 115 MW simple cycle Auburndale Peaker, also built by AKIC, which provides power during peak times of the day. Once in commercial operation, the Osprey Energy Center will be one of the most energy efficient and environmentally responsible sources of electric power in Florida.
Seminole Electric Cooperative of Tampa, a non-profit generation and transmission cooperative, has contracted to buy 350 MW of power from the Osprey Energy Center beginning June 1, 2004 through May 31, 2009, with the option of extending the contract through May 22, 2020. Seminole Electric supplies power to more than 1.5 million residential, commercial and industrial consumers in 45 Florida counties.
Plant Layout
The arrangement of the new plant calls for one operating line in a 2 x 1 combined cycle arrangement in which two gas turbines feed two heat-recovery steam generators and a single steam turbine. The project entails assembly of the gas turbines, skid mounting of the heat-recovery steam generators and the steam turbine generator, as well as construction of a structural-steel building to house the equipment. The presence of homes and businesses in the area necessitates the use of an enclosed plant for aesthetics and noise attenuation.
The equipment rests on spread-foot, reinforced-steel, and concrete foundations. The size, density and mass of each foundation is proportionate to the equipment that will sit on it. The weight and dynamics of the equipment, such as vibration and torque, determine the width, depth and reinforcing schemes for the various foundations. The gas turbines and heat-recovery steam generating units’ foundations include 1,200 cubic yards of concrete each. Crews set the equipment on the foundations before starting construction of the building.
Excellence in Safety and Quality
Aker Kvaerner and its employees and subcontractors have proven that they are committed to providing and maintaining a safe work place. Calpine conducts monthly audits on its power plants under construction, and during the last four months has awarded Aker Kvaerner a perfect score of 100% three times and a close 99.82% once. Through September 2003, the Aker Kvaerner Industrial Constructors team, headed by Project Manager Terry Longer, worked 1,480,000 hours, including subcontractor time, with an incidence rate of 0.68 for the project to date. The average number of employees was 500 at the site for that period, and the project is 90% complete. Gary Mandel, Executive Vice President for Aker Kvaerner OGPE, noted that, "the team has continuously performed at the highest level of safety and quality."
Not only has Aker Kvaerner proven itself as a safe contractor, but it has also achieved recognition from Calpine for the excellent quality of work that is being performed on the Osprey Energy Center. Calpine’s quality assurance department performs regular quality audits of all ongoing projects nationwide. The Osprey Project received the highest scores for the fourth quarter of 2002, was awarded the Calpine Quality Award for that period and had the record-breaking score of 102.69% in January 2003. More recently, Osprey earned the highest quality score of 101.95% for the month of August. Sammy King, Calpine’s Project Manager for Osprey, congratulated the team on being recognized as the "Top Quality Project" for the month stating, "good job folks, keep on helping AKIC do a great job both in quality and safety."
Gary Mandel adds, "We are very pleased to have earned these honours, and our team has worked very hard to reach this top level of performance. We have a solid partnership with Calpine and believe that our excellent quality and safety performance achieved on the Osprey Energy Center project will help maintain this relationship long term. HSE is the cornerstone of Aker Kvaerner. It is vital to us that our workers are part of a safe work environment and that each and every employee working on the project is able to return home safely to their families at the end of each shift."
Previous Experience with Calpine
Previously, AKIC and Calpine successfully partnered for the development of Calpine’s 800 MW greenfield, combined cycle cogeneration power plant located at the Bayer chemical plant complex in Baytown, Texas, USA.
With mechanical completion achieved at the end of 2001, the AKIC construction/project team completed the fast-track project in just 23 months, expending 2.3 million safe working hours without a lost time accident, with 80% of the total construction work hours executed on a direct-hire basis. Site construction personnel peaked at approximately 800.
Founded in 1984, Calpine Corporation is the world’s largest producer of renewable geothermal energy and focuses on production of combined-cycle, natural gas-fired generation. Calpine continues to be one of North America’s largest electric power producers with 89 energy centers in operation today. Its fleet of energy centers generates more than 22,000 megawatts of electricity and is considered one of the most modern, efficient, and environmentally sound natural gas-fired portfolios of its kind in the power industry.
Aker Kvaerner Industrial Constructors (KIC) provides non-union construction to such diverse projects as mineral processing plants through to chemicals, polymers and pharmaceutical facilities. These projects offer extreme technical and engineering challenges as well as considerable demands on human resources, logistics and scheduling.
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