The site of Emporia Energy, Lyon County’s future peaking power plant, got a 377,000-pound delivery last weekend.
The first of several natural gas-fired turbines arrived via rail Sunday. Manufactured by General Electric, it was transported from Greenville, N.C., to Sauder Custom Fabrication, and transported the rest of the way to the Westar Energy’s peaking power plant site about six miles northeast of Emporia.
The turbine remained on a flat-bed trailer on Wednesday afternoon. Because of rain over the past couple of days, it was too muddy to be moved. The next turbine is set to arrive this weekend.
The site of the power plant at Roads 200 and S has changed dramatically from a 160-acre field last year to a major construction site employing more than 200 people. The plant will use natural gas to generate power during peak-power usage times such as heavy-use summer days.
Westar Energy announced its plans in August 2006 to build the plant in Lyon County, which would cost $333 million.
More than a year after Westar’s announcement, cranes, walls and foundations for the structure can be seen before even reaching the plant. Keith Ketcherside, project manager for Emporia Energy, said the work that’s being done now is underground piping. Foundations are being completed and are ready to start housing equipment. The turbine foundations are the goal now, Ketcherside said.
“We have probably three of the five foundations that we’re going to need for phase one poured and ready to go,” he said.
Two large water tanks tower over the construction site. The smaller of the two will hold de-mineralized water and the larger tank will hold tap water.
The first of two phases of the project is set to be completed in spring 2008, Ketcherside said, with the project is right on schedule. Phase 1 includes the installation of the large turbine at 155 megawatts and the installation of four smaller aeroderivative gas turbines at 40 megawatts each.
The project’s second phase is scheduled to be completed in spring of 2009. When everything is done, the plant will have three large turbines and four small ones.
“The second phase will not have any of the smaller gas turbines,” Ketcherside said. “It will just have more of the large.”
Ketcherside said the project has brought many jobs to the Emporia area. As of Sept. 14, there were 219 people listed as working on the job site. This number includes everybody from subcontractors to site personnel.
“Right now we’re kinda gearing up,” he said. “The numbers have been increasing by the week.”
The number of people employed during the construction of the power plant will peak around 250, Ketcherside said. When construction is completed, that number will drop to single digits.