Upgrading to a natural gas plant on time

A wholesale electrical generation and transmission cooperative serving 480,000 customers across 20 distribution members was on the path to decarbonization. Its next step? Decommissioning one of its coal-fired plants to construct a new, 640 MW combined-cycle natural gas plant. But this billion dollar project was facing a 6-week delay and loss of power to the existing plant, because the power to construction loop was provided by the substation they were working on. After weighing up its options, the cooperative decided an efficiently engineered portable generator was the best solution, so it reached out to Aggreko. The solution had to be powerful enough for large motor starts, provide enough redundancy to avoid a single failure path, and maintain consistent power to the construction site.

Aggreko went above and beyond, conducting a site visit and drawing on its vast technical expertise to create a solution tailored to the cooperative’s load profile, equipment usage, and power requirements. Aggreko’s process engineers designed a customized temporary power system powered by five 500 kW generators and controlled by “load-on-demand” programming. This increased responsiveness and control while maximizing fuel efficiency, which reduced emissions and fuel costs by 20%. And with Aggreko’s Remote Monitoring (ARM) system, the cooperative received 24/7 AI-enabled equipment monitoring. Combined with intelligent power system design, the cooperative had enough redundancy and contingency to eliminate the need for expensive on-site technicians, saving them more than 25% in overall project costs.

The cooperative was able to successfully upgrade to its new natural gas power plant on schedule. Reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 65% as well as costs to its members. With the help of Aggreko’s temporary power solution, it was able to power its construction while increasing efficiency, reducing generator runtime, and significantly reducing fuel spend. The cooperative did all that while avoiding downtime throughout the four-week project. Aggreko’s work from design to load-out was fast and seamless. Enabling the cooperative to complete the project with full confidence – and without interruption to its’ customers. Aggreko helped this cooperative take a major step toward accomplishing its decarbonization goals. major step towards its decarbonization goals.