POWER August 2015 - 40

REINVENTION AWARD
Table 1. Major project vendors
and partners. Source: Colorado Energy
Nations, GDF SUEZ Energy NA, and Behrent
Engineering
Company
Alstom
Atlas Industrial
Contractors
Behrent Engineering
Co.
Piper Electric Co.
Utility Control and
Equipment Corp.
Contribution
Boiler retrofit parts and
service
Gas piping construction
Project engineers and
designers
Electrical installation
Rockwell Automation New control systems
hardware
Control panel fabrication
was a modular system that included operator
stations and separate control modules such
as PID, lead-lag, computation, signal selector,
and the like. Spare parts inventory was
nearly exhausted, and module failures were
frequent, so this control system also became
a candidate for replacement.
Contracting Strategy: Leverage
Site Expertise
In December 2012, GDF SUEZ retained Behrent
Engineering Co. (Behrent) to develop
a detailed project definition for completing
Boiler 5's blended fuel system. Behrent is a
local Denver-area firm with 53 years of multidisciplined
heavy industrial experience. Much
of that experience was gained executing capital
projects for the brewery and power plant,
so Behrent was selected to execute the preliminary
engineering phase of the project because
of its knowledge of the plant.
During that phase, Behrent's role was to
help GDF SUEZ set a project budget and develop
detailed project definition documents for
prequalified engineer-procure-construct (EPC)
contractors. The successful EPC contractor
would then be responsible for detailed engineering,
material purchasing, installation subcontracts,
project management, and commissioning
on a lump-sum turnkey (LSTK) basis.
Working together, GDF SUEZ and Behrent
developed a $3.5 million budget for the
project. When the preliminary engineering
package was ready, EPC bidders were invited
to a pre-bid meeting and project walk
and were also given a chance to individually
present their bids to the evaluation team. All
but one of the bidders elected not to submit
a proposal because of the small size of the
project and unknown project risks, like the
complexity of replacing the Norpak panel.
The single proposal came with a cost of $4.5
million. At that point, the project team realized
that the LSTK approach would put the
project 29% over budget.
40
Instead of moving forward with the LSTK
strategy, Plant Manager Mike Gwyther and
Maintenance Manager Dennis Capps proposed
an alternative. Instead of an EPC contract,
they suggested that plant personnel
could manage separate engineering and construction
contracts and directly purchase materials.
John Givens, the GDF SUEZ Energy
North America project manager, presented
both the LSTK approach and the alternative
to management, which decided that the plant
staff's experience and abilities were ideal to
complete the project using the alternative
approach. GDF SUEZ corporate engineering
was confident that this path could be
followed and would meet the budget. When
the decision to use the alternative contracting
strategy was communicated to plant management,
they were thrilled that they would be
the primary drivers of the project.
Because of Behrent's involvement in the
preliminary engineering phase and familiarity
with the project requirements, plant management
then retained Behrent to execute the
detailed engineering phase of the project.
Valves and instrumentation were directly purchased
by the plant and were received well in
advance of need. Behrent developed detailed
subcontractor bid packages and assisted in
the bid evaluation process. Major project
partners are listed in Table 1. The plant also
awarded specialty contracts as needed. For
example, T.D. Williamson Inc. was hired to
hot-tap into the existing gas header.
Project Summary
The project had three main objectives:
■ Install natural gas piping.
■ Replace flame safety controls (Norpak
panel).
■ Replace combustion controls (Fisher
AC3).
To accomplish those objectives, the project
included the following scope of work:
■ Install the new flame safety control panel
near the Norpak panel. Use redundant
Rockwell Automation ControlLogix
1756-L72 PLCs for the new panel. Plan to
convert the Norpak panel to a marshaling
cabinet. Save and reuse all field instrumentation
and wiring.
■ During October 2014 shutdown: Cut over
to new flame safety controls. Replace half
of the pulverized coal fuel nozzles. Inspect
the condition of existing gas fuel nozzles.
■ Install a new 10-inch gas main to Boiler
5, including main gas stop valve, flow,
and pressure controls; block and bleed
valves to each gas burner; and combustible
gas detectors.
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■ Hot tap the existing main gas header while
the boilers continued in operation.
■ Install the new combustion control PLC
system near the Fisher AC3 racks. Use
Rockwell Automation ControlLogix 1756L72
PLC. Add marshaling terminal blocks
to existing Fisher AC3 racks. Prewire the
new PLC to marshaling terminal blocks.
Save and reuse all existing field instrumentation
and wiring.
■ Connect all new gas line valves and instrumentation
to the new PLC panels.
■ Update the iFIX SCADA system to include
the new gas line valves and instrumentation
and to interface and gather data
from the new PLCs.
■ During winter 2015 shutdown: Cut over to
new combustion controls. Replace Fisher
AC3 operator stations with new Rockwell
Automation PanelView Plus 6 15-inch
color touch screens. Tie in new gas line to
each existing gas nozzle. Replace remaining
pulverized coal fuel nozzles.
Budget and Schedule
After the scope of work was developed, the
Behrent team began to work on the budget.
Behrent met with several local contractors
and suppliers to develop estimates for materials
and installation labor. After allowing for
contingencies, the final project budget was
set and approved at $3.5 million.
Overhaul work had previously been
planned and scheduled for the October 6 to
24, 2014, shutdown. Project requirements
were scheduled as necessary to meet that
shutdown schedule. Plant operations scheduling
and contractual obligations also required
the winter shutdown (January 19 to February
8) to be complete by February 9, 2015,
so project requirements associated with that
shutdown were scheduled as necessary.
Keys to Success
The elements that ensure success often vary
by the type of project, but one universal foundation
is a focus on safety.
A Focus on Safety. The CEN plant has
a long history of safe operation. As of April
1, 2015, the plant has run 3,323 consecutive
days without a lost time accident. During
the project, contractors logged 9,879 safe
manhours, through January 2015. Givens of
GDF SUEZ Energy North America, Capps
of CEN, and Rick Skaflen, Behrent's project
manager and manager of safety, all emphasized
project safety. Key components of the
safety program were:
■ Each of the 68 project meetings started
with a safety moment.
■ A Contractor/Vendor Site Orientation
Manual was included in every bid packPOWER
| August 2015
http://www.powermag.com
POWER August 2015

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