POWER October 2021 - 26

TOP PLANT
cal water treatment system along with
advanced emissions reduction equipment.
Veolia Water Technologies was
contracted by Kiewit in December 2017
to provide engineering and procurement
services for the raw and demineralized
water treatment systems for the plant.
The plant is equipped with selective catalytic
reduction for the control of nitrogen
oxide emissions, and an oxidation catalyst
for the reduction of carbon monoxide and
volatile organic compound emissions.
" In addition, the facility can meet its
minimum emissions compliance at low
loads, allowing the facility to support and
stabilize the grid when solar and wind
power generation is high, " said Blitek,
noting another important aspect of the
plant in support of growing renewable
power generation. " The result is a facility
that covers all the bases in support
of safe, reliable power for the electrical
service partners, " he said.
Construction Challenges
Construction on the project was started
in August 2017. Several challenging situations-including
managing the safety of
the project team through the COVID-19
pandemic-were overcome in order to
bring the plant online less than three
years later.
Blitek told POWER, " The largest risk
to the project was the potential shortage
of labor due to the other industrial
work happening in the area. Western
Pennsylvania was very busy during this
time and Kiewit focused early on working
with the local unions and creating a
project that was attractive to our craftsmen. "
The project at its peak employed
752 workers; there are 23 full-time staff
at the plant today.
Garrick Venteicher, CEO of Tyr Energy,
marked the plant's start of commercial
operation in May 2020, saying his group
was " pleased to have collaborated with
two world-class partners, Kiewit Power
and Siemens, to bring this important
energy infrastructure project to completion.
In addition, I can't say enough about
the support we received from Lawrence
County and the local community. The
highly skilled workforce from the surrounding
area has been outstanding. We
look forward to building on these relationships
in the years ahead. "
Blitek told POWER the delayed delivery
of several pieces of critical equipment
impacted the project's timeline,
compressing Kiewit's installation schedule
by several months. Blitek noted that
the team had to overcome several other
26
issues during initial commissioning.
Working closely with the OEMs (original
equipment manufacturers) and the client,
the project team managed to successfully
start up and operate the plant
at full capacity on schedule.
Blitek noted, " There were two occasions
when the plant had to be shut down
during commissioning due to multiple tube
leaks. Each time the project team methodically
made the repairs in a short time frame
and restarted the plant in a timely manner
to resume commissioning. "
Electricity generated at Hickory Run
is sent to the grid through a connection
with the Hoytdale-Shenango 345-kV
transmission line. PJM Interconnection,
Hickory Run Energy, and American Transmission
Systems signed an interconnection
service agreement for the Hickory
Run power project in May 2017. The power
output of the Hickory Run facility is
sold to the PJM Interconnection wholesale
electricity market.
Equity Investors
Tyr Energy, Kansai Electric Power, and Siemens
Financial Services provided equity
investment for the nearly $900 million
project. A bank group led by BNP Paribas,
Bank of America, Crédit Agricole Corporate
and Investment Bank, Mitsubishi UFJ
Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking
Corp., Development Bank of Japan,
ABN AMRO, National Australia Bank, and
the Shinhan Bank provided a senior credit
facility of $530 million in August 2017.
" We are delighted that we contributed
to this significant milestone of Hickory
Run in collaboration with Tyr Energy and
Siemens, " said Hiroshi Nakajima, Kansai's
managing executive officer in charge of
International Business and Cooperation at
that time. " Hickory Run is our first greenfield
project in North America, which we
recognize as one of the most important
power markets. Kansai is committed to
expanding its power business overseas
by making active use of the technological
strength and expertise cultivated throughout
our company's history. "
Blitek said several protocols were followed
during the plant's construction in
order to ensure worker safety, including
Kiewit's LSA Program (Life Saving Actions
& Standard Operating Procedures).
" LSA is Kiewit's Safety Diamond category
program and a crucial component
of a complete site-specific safety plan, "
said Blitek. " It allowed the Hickory Run
project team to be proactive about eliminating
significant injuries and fatalities
throughout the course of the project.
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POWER POINTS
Winning Attributes
✔ People focused: " One of Kiewit's
core values is our people, " said
Blitek. " Our project team took this
to the next level to ensure everyone
on the project team knew this by
beginning everything with safety,
treating everyone with dignity and
respect, training and mentoring
at all levels, and supporting each
other's efforts as one team. "
✔ Perseverance: " Throughout the
course of the project there were
many obstacles that the project
team had to endure ranging from
craft shortages, delayed material
deliveries, force majeure events,
and permanent equipment issues, "
said Blitek. " Kiewit's team took
these issues in stride and worked as
a team to overcome them to provide
a finished product on time and
under budget. "
✔ Collaboration: Tight integration and
teamwork between the engineering,
procurement, and construction teams.
The LSA Program ensured the project
team identified the potential outcome
of all incidents or events that could
have posed danger to onsite personnel
through developing meaningful plans to
eliminate those events with potentially
high-severity outcomes. "
Blitek also noted the CVIS Program
(Craft Voice in Safety) (Figure 1), which
has a motto of " Developed for the craft,
by the craft. " The program creates a safety
culture where workers have a voice.
" We promoted the idea that craftsmen/
women should be taking care of each
other, in a partnership with site management,
through ownership, communication,
and prevention to achieve Kiewit's
goal of 'Nobody Gets Hurt,' " he said.
As Hickory Run has supported the local
community, providing thousands of
dollars to more than a dozen area charities,
Blitek said that in turn, the project's
success has come in part because of its
support from the community. " [The project
had] general involvement, collaboration,
and a great working relationship
with the local unions and community at
large of Western Pennsylvania, " he said.■
-Darrell Proctor is a senior associate
editor for POWER.
POWER | October 2021
http://www.powermag.com
POWER October 2021

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