POWER October 2019 - 27

TOP PLANT
1. The 1,480-MW Lackawanna Energy Center
features an innovative single-shaft configuration.
The three 500-MW power islands
each have a 7HA.02 high-efficiency, air-cooled
natural gas combustion turbine, a steam turbine,
and generator. However, they all share
the same cooling, air, and auxiliary steam systems.
Courtesy: Kiewit Corp.
one of only a few firms that " has the engineering
capability, construction experience,
and the proven track record to build
an incredibly complex multi-billion-dollar
facility like Lackawanna, " he said. KPC
Project Engineer Joseph Kubrak, meanwhile,
credited GE-a company with
which KPC did not have a contract-with
full-fledged cooperation, which he said
was pivotal to further its own design and
minimize field impacts.
In addition to installation of the new
turbines, the configuration was new for
Kiewit, and while it offered an array of
benefits, it also posed challenges. Most
notably, it supported staggered turnover
dates for each unit (Figure 1), which in
turn translated into a unique opportunity
for sequencing construction that " allowed
the team to take lessons learned from
one unit to the next, " said Kubrak.
The process, which is unusual for the
industry, required designing, constructing,
and commissioning 90% of the electrical
systems with the first unit, and commissioning
it along with all the balance-ofplant
(BOP) systems. It required " extreme
precautions while operating the first unit
and commissioning the second and third
units, " said Kubrak. However, cross-ties
between the units offered another unique
feature, which enabled isolation and outage
coordination
during
commissioning,
he said. KPC also worked doggedly
on the difficult alignment of the single
shaft through the steam turbine, generator,
and gas turbine. " [It] was something
very challenging and new to our team, "
he said. " We had a highly skilled team of
millwrights to work through the many difficulties
in achieving alignment. "
Under this
construction kicked
October 2019 | POWER
" tiered-turnover " model,
off in March 2016,
and by June 2018, Unit 1 and BOP systems
had been turned over. Unit 2's turnover
came in September 2018, and KPC
marked completion of the full project with
Unit 3's turnover in January 2019. " The
timeframe for completing one unit with
BOP systems is similar to other projects
we've built, " said Kubrak. " However, what
makes Lackawanna so special is the size,
complexity, and first-time builds involved
with it-and completing everything ahead
of schedule. "
Overcoming Infancy Issues
Through Good Collaboration
Invenergy's Ewan noted the company
had expected pains with the project's
first-of-a-kind aspects, which otherwise
typically require a lot of time for adaptation,
but Lackawanna demonstrated the
merits of strong collaboration. Its longterm
working relationship with GE, for
example, was crucial when GE discovered
a critical oxidation issue that affected
the lifespan of a blade component in
the first generation of GE's advanced HA
gas turbines. The issue affected some of
GE's first commercially installed 7HA.02
turbines at an Exelon CCGT plant in Texas
that came online in June 2017. As GE
noted, the turbines at Lackawanna are
" the same generation as those units,
several serial builds later. " But as Ewan
explained, when Invenergy chose the
new technology, it determined that the
turbine's efficiency and flexibility benefits
outweighed the risks.
" Yes, there are concerns that people
have about infancy issues with new
technology, " he said, " but the way we've
found to deal with it is just in a very collaborative
partnership with the original
equipment supplier. " As a fix to the blade
issue, GE performed modifications at
the project during the plant's first year
of operation, an event that required a
scheduled maintenance outage. " But
they were completely on top of them
and we really had minimum downtime,
and we did not experience any failures, "
said Ewan. " They did their root cause
evaluations, came up with upgrades, and
implemented those upgrades before it
ever became an issue. "
Another reason that Ewan cited for
choosing the newly released GE equipment
was because GE offered to work
closely with Invenergy's lender's independent
engineer to understand the technological
advancements and risks. And, as
crucially, " GE also provided stronger warranties
than you might see in a typical,
later-stage technology, " he said.
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POWER POINTS
Winning Attributes
✔ Seamless collaboration among
the engineering, procurement, and
construction contractor, Kiewit
Power Constructors; the turbine
manufacturer, GE Power; and the
developer, owner, and operator,
Invenergy, to overcome challenges
and complete the first-of-a-kind
project on an aggressive schedule.
✔ Incorporating an innovative singleshaft
design comprising three
500-MW power islands to maximize
facility efficiency and boost
flexibility.
✔ Deploying newly introduced gas
turbines, despite challenges.
✔ Implementing a " tiered turnover "
construction sequence that helped
achieve substantial completion
ahead of schedule.
A Giant Footprint
Especially notable is that the massive
project-bigger than anything Kiewit had
previously undertaken-also required
the largest staff and craft workforce that
KPC had ever assembled. The project
scope was remarkably vast. Because the
plant is built on the side of a mountain,
for example, it required a " large amount
of cut-and-fill, which was a pretty significant
civil challenge, " Ewan said. At construction
peak, more than 1,000 workers
were on site-some pulled from across
Kiewit, and others, sourced from local
unions-to meet the tight schedule.
Crews even worked nights after it was
upended for nearly a week when Winter
Storm Stella barreled across the Northeast
in the spring of 2017.
For Polsky, the payoff has been sizable,
particularly as power markets evolve.
" Our gas plant is very competitive when
compared to everything else that exists
out there, " he said. A major renewables
developer, Invenergy's " unique perspective "
on the " market situation, market
pressures, and what makes sense, what
doesn't make sense, " ensured all the
markers were in place. All else it took for
Lackawanna's successful construction and
operation was " the best and most efficient
equipment available on the market and a
plan that can be executed, " he said. ■
-Sonal Patel is a POWER senior
associate editor.
27
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POWER October 2019

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