1also inside Changing of the Guard Evolving Beyond the Borders Powering Through

BEYOND THE SCOPE

Empowering Stability for a Changing Market As utilities move to employ new systems, equipment and approaches in meeting today’s changing needs, some time-tested technology is once again gaining momentum.

Renewable resources and shifting customer habits are driving interest in use of the reciprocating engine — the stalwart generator used in automobiles beginning in the late 1800s — among utilities looking to balance their wavering loads. Burns & McDonnell has been leading the way in meeting that interest. As addressed in a story beginning on page 9, it’s been nearly two decades since our engineers first helped a utility take advantage of the consistent performance of such engines, and we’ve been generating success for clients ever since.

As wind, solar and other renewable sources continue to gain market share, utilities welcome generators that can be fired up at a moment’s notice and produce the specific levels of power needed — easing inconsistencies that potentially could damage their grids. Such protections and performance are poised to become even more essential as customers increasingly use energy-hungry electronics, plug-in electric vehicles and otherwise pump up power demands during what previously had been considered off-peak hours.

In a changing world, you can count on us as a consistent partner.

Scott NewlandVice President

2015

2015 No. 2 3

START UP

A hidden cost is the experience of the installer and crew. Burns & McDonnell puts a mix of protection and control engineers/testing and commissioning specialists who have extensive experience with this process on each site. This specialized,

fast-paced approach requires an experienced team to minimize shutdown.

Technical Q&A: Substation Change-Outs

Q : Aging oil circuit breakers (OCBs) must be changed out. How do you do it fastest and most cost-effectively?

A: Many utilities and industrial facilities operating electrical substations are realizing they must replace their aging OCBs with more reliable and environmentally friendly gas circuit breakers — soon.

As OCBs age, breakdowns and the dwindling supply of replacement parts are becoming more frequent concerns. Since even a small 69-kV model can contain 400-plus gallons of oil, aging OCBs can be a source of leaks and failures requiring costly environmental remediation and downtime. If a breaker were to fail in an industrial setting, it could shut down a refining plant and lead to millions of dollars in lost revenue.

While capital equipment costs can be substantial, a significant portion of the

associated time and costs lie elsewhere. Fortunately, these costs can be reduced.

For example, upfront design, administrative and project management work can consume resources for weeks or months — up to eight to 12 times longer than the change-out itself. This work occurs outside the shutdown schedule, so it can seem less urgent. The cost to the organization, however, can be substantial.

By streamlining this process, completing much of the upfront work during installation, Burns & McDonnell teams have been able to cut the change-out time to five to seven days. The company can create a field-engineered package in as few as three days that provides a client’s installation team with the necessary plans to perform the change-out itself.

How It Works

Water Quality Forensics Traces Contamination to Its Source If Steve Gruber’s job were a TV show, it would be called “CSI: Water.” Gruber, a project manager in the San Diego office of Burns & McDonnell, specializes in water quality forensics, an emerging field dedicated to tracking down sources of stormwater contamination by studying the DNA of the offending bacteria. The findings can save substantial time and money on environmental cleanup.

Consider Poche Beach in San Clemente, California, which for decades had the worst contamination record among Orange County beaches. “The beach regularly exceeded water quality standards for fecal coliform bacteria, resulting in beach closures,” Gruber says. “Our job was to identify where it was coming from.”

That involved investigating everything from the watershed that drains onto the beach to the DNA of the bacteria found there. “By going to the molecular level, we discovered there were several contributing factors,” he says. The worst offenders — and the easiest to address — were gulls that congregated at the beach.

“We discovered that the birds’ migration pattern led them to feed in a landfill and then move to the beach, where they drank fresh water and left their waste,” he says. Burns & McDonnell advised the city to retain a falconer — a professional who comes to the beach several times a week each summer to fly falcons that frighten away the gulls. The result: a precipitous drop in contamination, and the removal of beach closure signs.

“DNA markers aren’t a magic bullet,” Gruber says. “It’s important to understand the whole watershed, and the DNA findings must be supported by other parts of the study. In the case of Poche Beach, over-irrigation in the watershed, bacteria regrowth in storm drains and a 15-foot-deep scour pond on the beach also contribute to the contamination.”

Source identification studies allow cleanup efforts to be more targeted. “If you identify the source of bacteria, you can pinpoint the best management practices for removing it,” Gruber says. “It’s just a smarter way to go.”

For more information, contact Steve Gruber, 858-320-2946.

Jeff Caraway is a project manager at Burns & McDonnell. Contact him at 832-389-5705.

BURNS & McDONNELL 4

BenchMark: Help Guide Our Updated DirectionEven after more than a century of chronicling advancements, tracing trends and offering insights for individuals and industry, BenchMark is just getting started.

We’re making plans for updating the magazine in 2016, and we’d like you to be a part of it.

Want to learn more about the process behind new projects? Curious about professionals making a difference in their fields? Appreciate photos that capture the wonder generated by engineering?

Let us know. BenchMark continues to serve as a consistent reference point for industry news, insights and observations, but we are working to make it even more amazing.

Please email thoughts about content, format and other matters to mfagan@burnsmcd.com.

START UP

In-House News

National Reach Expands

New offices are bringing design, construction and planning services even closer to Burns & McDonnell clients in areas where needs are growing.

The offices — in Pasadena, California; Orlando, Florida; and Fulton, Maryland, and Roanoke, Virginia — help strengthen connections with existing clients while also positioning the firm to deliver professional services to future partners.

“Burns & McDonnell is not only here to stay but can now substantially expand our service offerings to clients throughout the region,” says Jeffrey Ganther, manager of the firm’s Mid-Atlantic office, whose region includes the new offices in Maryland and Virginia.

The new offices in the Mid-Atlantic region provide architectural, engineering and construction services with a focus on commercial office buildings, power, environmental, federal, defense, manufacturing, healthcare and higher education projects.

The Pasadena office supports expanding regional demand for Burns & McDonnell services in electrical transmission and distribution, environmental remediation, and airport fueling and renovations. Since 2008, the firm’s Southern California team has managed more than $5 billion in electrical infrastructure projects.

Professionals in the firm’s first major office in the Orlando work on projects in electrical transmission and distribution, power generation, transportation, water, environmental, aviation and federal.

Burns & McDonnell now has more than 35 offices in the United States and across the globe.

Burns & McDonnell is No. 15 among the 2015 FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For, landing for the fifth time on the annual list recognizing companies with exceptional workplace cultures.

“Being a 100 percent employee-owned company is the key ingredient that’s helped foster a culture of trust, respect and entrepreneurship at Burns & McDonnell that continues to produce success for both our clients and employee-owners,” says Greg Graves, Burns & McDonnell chairman and CEO.

Companies were evaluated based on five dimensions: credibility, respect, fairness, pride and camaraderie.

Burns & McDonnell is the lone engineering firm on the list. Burns & McDonnell also placed No. 14 in the magazine’s rankings of 100 Best Workplaces for Millennials.

Another Year of Good FORTUNE

Burns & McDonnell’s mission since 1898 is front and center in the new Orlando office.

2015 No. 2 5

PROFILE

Gratitude and confidence.

Those are the words John Nobles, retired president of the Process & Industrial Group at Burns & McDonnell, uses to sum up his tenure with the firm. They are ideals afforded him both internally from leaders at Burns & McDonnell and from clients who actively participated in maintaining

CHANGING OF THE GUARD Staunch Leader Passes the Torch

Bob Reymond (left), senior vice president, is continuing the path of excellence paved by former general manager, John Nobles.

relationships and keeping the lines of communication open, even when times were tough for the industry.

“Burns & Mac gave me a second chapter to take what I had learned and match it with the wonderful culture at Burns & McDonnell and the knowledge I brought of the process business — and the scars,” Nobles says.

BURNS & McDONNELL 6

PROFILE

Since Senior Vice President Bob Reymond took over as general manager on Jan. 1, the group has embarked on a renaissance of development to provide even greater customer service and foster stronger relationships with existing clients and new ones.

FAITH AND LOYALTYWhen Nobles joined Burns & McDonnell in 2001, the Process & Industrial Group needed life. It was operating in survival mode during a time when the entire industry was struggling. Work was sometimes scarce, and maintaining a foothold took determination from Nobles and his team, plus confidence and loyalty from clients.

“During lean times our clients stood beside us and made sure the relationships stayed strong even without a lot of work to support us,” Nobles says. “They always found something for us to do.”

That loyalty built the foundation for growth, and as the industry recovered, clients built on the trust they had in Nobles and Burns & McDonnell. The Process & Industrial Group moved from a small department working on a couple projects a year to a hundreds-strong group nationwide taking on eight to nine major projects annually.

“What John has done here has been remarkable,” Reymond says. “He took a small, 30-person group and made it an engineer-procure-construct (EPC) business — virtually everything this group is, became so under John. And he is a big reason Burns & McDonnell is so focused on safety. Those two things alone are a fantastic legacy.”

THE RIGHT FITMaintaining and building on that legacy and finding ways to serve clients even better is not something taken lightly — nor is it easy. Preparing for Nobles’ retirement and planning the transition had been years in the making. Moving the Process & Industrial Group into the next echelon requires a heightened understanding of the business and direction of the industry, as well as each client’s reasons for making the business decisions they do.

“Bob and I traveled together extensively so he could not only understand why I do what I do, but why our clients do what they do in relation to us,” Nobles says. “He has really grasped the process business and a model by which we deliver both superior process design and reliable EPC execution.”

Paired with his experience working on large projects and international work, that understanding sets the stage for Reymond’s business model of an even higher focus on client service.

“What I’m proud and confident of is the leadership team we’ve built with Bob at the helm,” Nobles says. “He’s got the leadership skills and desire to do this.”

LOOKING AHEADWith the turbulence in the oil and gas market over the last year, those skills are serving Reymond well in leading the group to guide clients through uncertain times. As the United States became a bigger player in the oil market, product prices dropped significantly and lessened certainty.

“It’s a tough time for our gas clients,” Reymond says. “They are acting prudently regarding the projects they move forward.”

The consensus is that the market will rebound — it’s a matter of when and how quickly oil and gas companies will feel comfortable restarting capital investment projects. Reymond is focusing on the continued improvement of the Process & Industrial Group while continuing relationships with existing clients and developing relationships with new clients. All of it keeps the firm at the ready for when clients decide to move forward with capital projects.

“Some think the market will come back quickly, but it’s hard to know,” Reymond says. “Really the future does look good in 2016 and beyond. This year will be a good time to get back to basics and focus on maintaining a high level of quality for our clients.”

For more information, contact Bob Reymond, 816-822-4271.

“What I’m proud and confident of is the leadership team we’ve built with Bob at the helm.”

“What John has done here has been remarkable. ... Virtually everything this group is, became so under John.”

2015 No. 2 7

FEATURE

Mike Brown Spearheads a Focused Approach to International Expansion

Evolving BEYOND THE BORDERS

BURNS & McDONNELL 8

FEATURE

work and helping develop protocols for evaluating risk. And he’s kept his passport active, traveling on work assignments to 45 countries on six continents. He considers such skills being essential to success in his new role.

“I can see the deals and know how to evaluate the opportunities from having done international work,” he says. “I know the legal side and I have the internal relationships, knowing the diverse experience of all our groups at Burns & McDonnell.”

Brown also brings a sense of mission to his new position.

“We want to make a difference and provide opportunities for our people,” he says. “We have a phenomenal talent base. We provide water, power and infrastructure that make lives better. We want to replicate our heart and soul beyond our borders by bringing the Burns & McDonnell ‘secret sauce’ to other countries.”

“Our employee ownership culture has been the driver of our success. Our challenge is to maintain that same kind of culture overseas.”

Brown also knows how to evaluate opportunities to maximize the value to Burns & McDonnell while minimizing the risk.

That’s one reason why Canada will continue to be a major focus for additional opportunities. The huge country with its vast natural resources is an excellent fit for the diverse menu of professional services Burns & McDonnell offers.

Other regions of the world where Brown sees potential for growth include Latin America and Southeast Asia.

“Southeast Asia is the long-term place to be because of its large middle-class growth,” Brown says. “Latin America is developing and they need infrastructure, and that’s what we do.”

“Where there are opportunities around the world, that’s where we’ll be.”

For more information, contact Mike Brown, 816-822-4245.

Much of the overseas work to date has been reacting to opportunities on a case-by-case basis. Now that’s changing.

Burns & McDonnell International heralds the introduction of a more measured and proactive approach to seeking new business overseas, says Greg Graves, chairman and CEO.

While leading the growing Canadian and Indian operations is Brown’s primary mission, he also has been tasked with identifying a location for a third, permanent international office.

“Mike’s unique background makes him the ideal person to provide a unified strategic vision to our international operations,” Graves says. “I can’t think of a better man to lead this effort. Mike is a master of detail, like the lawyer he is; sees opportunity everywhere, like the marketer he is; and, absolutely, is a born leader.”

Brown, who has been at Burns & McDonnell for 12 years, was vice president of the firm’s Global Facilities Group before being named president of the new international operation. Before coming to Burns & McDonnell, Brown had seven years of international experience, primarily working on power plant and large infrastructure projects.

Brown started at Burns & McDonnell as a senior attorney, handling international

Burns & McDonnell is surveying the world for additional opportunities and building on more than a century of work abroad by forming a new international division.

While the firm has a long history abroad — it landed its first project in Mexico in 1908, 10 years after its founding — the new initiative led by Mike Brown establishes a more strategic approach to international growth.

The goal is to continue building on keys to the domestic success of Burns & McDonnell: diversity of professional services and geographic reach, and motivated employee-owners who take exceptional pride in their work.

“This is a continuing evolution of the great work Burns & McDonnell has done for decades,” says Brown, president of Burns & McDonnell International. “This is the time to take advantage of our strength domestically and across the market. Five years from now, if we don’t have 750 people working for us outside the U.S., I’d be disappointed.”

The firm opened a 45-employee office in Calgary, Alberta, two years ago. Burns & McDonnell Canada now has a $600 million backlog in projects, a significant portion involving work in transmission and distribution.

In 2012, Burns & McDonnell bought the India operations of Chemtex, renaming it Burns McDonnell Engineering India Private Ltd. That venture, which now employs 250 professionals, is in Mumbai. It provides technical assistance supporting the firm’s domestic projects.

In addition to those permanent locations, Burns & McDonnell has worked in 60 countries over the years and currently has active projects in more than 30.

The most prominent location of those is Doha, Qatar, where the firm has a portfolio of projects valued at $6 billion. The projects include an advanced technology research center; a LEED Platinum-certified student housing complex; and the new Hamad International Airport.

“Burns & McDonnell International

 heralds the introduction of a more measured and proactive

approach to seeking

new business overseas.”

2015 No. 2 9

FROM THE COVER

2015 No. 2 9

BURNS & McDONNELL 10

When you think of electric power plants, “nimble” may not be the first word that comes to mind.

In fact, the entire power industry has historically been just the opposite. Coal-fired plants at the industry’s core are big, centralized and designed to meet the power needs of large swaths of the population. And for many years that was just fine, because they delivered the consistent, reliable energy supply the nation desired.

But as times change, so do conditions. The power grid infrastructure is aging. Utilities are under regulatory pressure to lower carbon emissions and increase use of renewable energy sources. Other electric power producers must operate under the constraints of an electric grid

challenged by renewable energy sources and outside market forces. Consumer and manufacturing shifts, meanwhile, have also thrown a wrench in historic patterns of energy use.

“It used to be, energy use peaked during the daytime hours because of the demand created by the manufacturing sector,” says Tom Graves, associate for Burns & McDonnell’s Energy Group. “Demand dropped in the evening when families went home to their modest, one-television homes.”

Over the past two decades, however, peak demand hours have flip-flopped. “Industrial growth has slowed, and people now go home at night to larger homes and power up energy-hungry big-screen TVs and other technologies,” Graves says.

FROM THE COVER

A New Kind of Power Plant Is Bringing Reliability to an

Increasingly Unstable Grid

Gas-fired reciprocating engines at Goodman Energy Center, in Hays, Kansas, are equipped to reduce flue gas emissions.

2015 No. 2 11

FROM THE COVER

Many electric power producers, meanwhile, have rebalanced their energy generation portfolios, adding wind, solar and other renewable sources to the mix.

Taken together, these factors are wreaking havoc on the electrical power grid, says Vic Ranalletta, manager of the Energy Group in Burns & McDonnell’s Chicago regional office: Peak usage, net of solar and wind resources, continues after the sun goes down and the wind stops blowing.

“While beneficial in many ways, the addition of wind and solar energy has made the transmission system more unstable,” adds Brian Elwell, Burns & McDonnell EPC project manager. “The industry has been searching for flexible solutions that can supplement renewable sources and help create transmission grid stability.”

ENTER THE RECIPROCATING ENGINE PLANTBack in the late 1990s, Elwell was part of a Burns & McDonnell project team pioneering an energy-generating technology that is able to do just that.

It started when the City of Iola, Kansas, asked for the firm’s help in installing two reciprocating engines in the city power plant to bolster the local power supply. “No one thought we were on the cutting edge at the time,” Elwell says.

Reciprocating engines, after all, were hardly a new technology. They had been used in car engines since the late 19th century. Outside of the automotive industry, they served primarily as a source of emergency backup power.

“Because these engines ran on diesel fuel, they were fairly expensive to operate and not

particularly friendly to the environment,” Graves says. “They weren’t considered a preferred solution for most energy needs.”

But reciprocating engines had one feature that had great appeal to utilities in need of ways to quickly balance variations in energy demand: They could be started and ramped up to produce precisely the amount of power needed on — literally — a few moments’ notice.

An expansion at Pearsall Power Plant, in Pearsall, Texas, added 24 gas-fired reciprocating engines. They help meet peak demands as well as provide surplus power for sale.

Peak usage, net of solar and wind resources, continues after the sun goes down and the wind stops blowing.

BURNS & McDONNELL 12

FROM THE COVER

Startup time matters, especially when other generators are coming on and offline at unpredictable rates, Graves says. Power producers must balance not only the wattage, but also voltage and frequency.

“Inconsistencies can not only create power outages, they can damage the grid itself,” Graves says.

A NEW ‘PLUG AND PLAY’ APPROACH TO POWER PRODUCTIONBy 2007, Wärtsilä, the company that manufactured Iola’s reciprocating engines, had introduced a new turbocharged version that could operate on cleaner-burning natural gas. These engines could be combined in a new kind of “plug and play” power plant that could be scaled up or down to operate during peak load times, or when facing sudden fluctuations in electrical power demand.

When Midwest Energy in Hays, Kansas, prepared to become one of the nation’s first gas and electric utilities to build a power plant using the flexible technology, members of the Burns & McDonnell team called upon their work in Iola and recommended Wärtsilä’s engine technology.

“That’s how we got into this business on the ground floor,” Elwell says.

WHO: Lea County Electric Cooperative

WHAT: 46.7-megawatt peaking plant

WHERE: Lovington, New Mexico

For decades, Lea County Electrical Cooperative relied on contracts with larger regional suppliers to provide power for the six rural counties it serves in southeastern New Mexico and western Texas. But with those contracts ending and new renewable energy portfolio requirements looming, the co-op decided in the early 2000s that it was time to once again generate its own power. “Our goal was to build resources,” says Gary Hurse, the co-op’s general manager. “We needed to find pieces of the supply puzzle that would provide a reliable source of power, while also meeting the new standards for renewables.”

The co-op’s choice: a flexible gas-fired reciprocating engine plant that would work together with a wind farm they would develop nearby. With Burns & McDonnell performing engineering, procurement and construction management, the 46.7-megawatt engine plant came online in early 2012.

Now in its third year of operation, the plant has enjoyed real success, Hurse says: The plant was “built around the wind” and runs anywhere from 20 percent to 50 percent of the time.

Capable of reaching full output in less than five minutes, he says, the plant fits the market well.

“In addition to providing backup power for our wind farm, it enables us to sell ancillary services on the open market,” Hurse says.

Today — just eight years later — there are 19 reciprocating engine plants of 25 megawatts or larger operating, in design or under  construction in the United States.

2015 No. 2 13

Today — just eight years later — there are 19 reciprocating engine plants of 25 megawatts or larger operating, in design or under construction in the United States. Burns & McDonnell has provided or is now providing planning and design services for 11 of these plants, including work as the construction manager on eight.

The plants contain anywhere from three to 24 individual reciprocating engine generators, each delivering either approximately 10 megawatts or 18 megawatts of power. (A megawatt can power about 1,000 homes.)

Most of the plants are being constructed by smaller municipalities, electric co-ops and irrigation districts in search of low-cost, supplemental sources of power generation, says Joey Mashek, business development manager for Burns & McDonnell’s Energy Group. But a few — including the Matanuska Electric Association in Palmer, Alaska — have built theirs to achieve a reliable baseload electric power supply.

“These plants aren’t being built to replace large, 400- or 500-megawatt coal-fired plants,” Mashek says. “Their owners may only need 50 or 100 additional megawatts that they can tap into. Reciprocating engine plants are appealing because they can pick the size they want.”

FROM THE COVER

THEY POWER UP QUICKLY. Even the largest of these plants can power up from zero to a full load in 10 minutes or less. And most use low-emission natural gas.

THEY ARE SCALABLE. They can be dispatched one engine at a time to generate as little or as much energy as needed, and with great efficiency. A plant can also continue to operate if one reciprocating engine must be taken offline for maintenance. Contrast that with a large gas turbine, which requires taking its entire plant offline when down for maintenance.

THEY HAVE SHORT RUN-CYCLE REQUIREMENTS.

Due to maintenance costs, a large gas turbine engine typically must run a minimum of four hours before it can be justifiably taken offline. A reciprocating engine plant, on the other hand, can be shut down without delay. These plants can also go online and offline multiple times a day with minimal wear and tear and no impact on the maintenance cycle.

Reciprocating Engine Plants Five reasons they’re gaining popularity:

1 2 3

WHO: Mid-Kansas Electric Co.

WHAT: The largest natural gas plant in the world driven by Caterpillar engines

WHERE: Ulysses, Kansas

Heightened interest in reciprocating engine technology is creating more options for utilities such as Mid-Kansas Electric Co. that seek increasingly flexible power sources. The new 111.2-megawatt Rubart Station, which Mid-Kansas brought online in 2014, includes first-of-their-kind Caterpillar reciprocating engines. The 12-engine plant — designed to expand to 24 engines — is the largest Caterpillar natural gas plant of its kind in the world, says Kyle Nelson, the utility’s chief operating officer.

Designed and built by Burns & McDonnell, the plant also includes an Emerson Ovation control system that enables the utility to monitor and operate the plant remotely from anywhere in the Mid-Kansas system. The units are designed to go from zero to full output in under 10 minutes, with complex algorithms determining how many of the station’s 12 engines are needed at a given time.

The units’ flexibility, operational sophistication and fast startup are all important to Nelson, given that large-scale wind development in the utility’s service territory places a tremendous strain on the transmission grid.

“This technology enables us to quickly balance the load when the wind dies down,” Nelson says. “It offers us something that nicely complements the mix of coal, natural gas and renewable resources in our portfolio.”

BURNS & McDONNELL 14

FROM THE COVER

REGULATORY, ECONOMIC MOTIVESMunicipalities and co-ops have other reasons for gravitating toward reciprocating engine plants.

Among the biggest drivers of increasing interest in reciprocating engines are regulatory bodies, such as the North American Reliability Corp. (NERC), says Sandro Tombesi, a senior project manager in the Energy Group.

“NERC used to look to the big energy players — the large coal-fired plants — to balance energy demand,” Tombesi says. “Today, that responsibility is being pushed down to the local utilities.”

Regional transmission operators — the traffic cops and dispatchers of the power on the grid — are likewise making local utilities and power producers financially responsible for replacing whatever loads they fail to provide.

Local power producers also have the opportunity to sell excess supply and other auxiliary services sometimes needed to manage the load on the grid.

“A well-placed reciprocating engine plant can fill that need and make significant returns,” Tombesi says.

WHAT’S AHEADAs more of the plants come online, interest from the power industry continues to grow. To help spread the word, Burns & McDonnell and current reciprocating engine plant owners head out four times a year with a traveling road show.

“More people now see that these new plug-and-play power plants are an important piece of the new, more flexible grid that is evolving nationwide,” Mashek says.

Adds Graves: “As people become more conscious of power use, and we see more things like time-of-use metering, there’ll be an even greater need for a grid that can adapt and change quickly. The demand for fewer emissions and lower fuel consumption will also drive change.”

Most importantly, Elwell says, reciprocating engine plants do a great job of backing up renewables and stabilizing the grid.

“These plants were just what many in the power industry were looking for,” he says.

For more information, contact Tom Graves, 816-822-3379.

THEY PERFORM WELL AT HIGH TEMPERATURES AND HIGH ALTITUDES.

Combustion turbines lose performance at high altitudes and in areas with high ambient temperatures. Reciprocating engine plants aren’t adversely impacted by these conditions.

THEY CAN BE EASIER TO SITE. A 200-megawatt reciprocating engine plant looks more like a light industrial building than a typical power plant. Such engines require no cooling towers or high pressure gas lines, either, which can shorten the permitting process.

4 5

WHO: South Texas Electric Cooperative

WHAT: 202-megawatt power plant expansion

WHERE: Pearsall, Texas

Facing rising demand back in the late 2000s, South Texas Electric Cooperative (STEC) needed to expand its 1960s-era Pearsall Power Plant with 202 additional megawatts of power.

“We were looking for a power source we could operate during peak times, and we liked the efficiency that reciprocating engines offered,” says John Packard, the co-op’s manager of power supply, who noted that the technology’s flexibility, fast start and ability to “follow the wind” also proved attractive.

With Burns & McDonnell providing design, procurement and construction services, STEC subsequently added 24 gas-fired reciprocating engines in a plant expansion that came online in early 2010.

Since then, the engines have run during peak demand times for a total of 2,000 to 3,000 hours a year. The co-op uses the power to cover its own needs, but also takes advantage of market opportunities that arise during times of excess capacity.

“It has worked out very well,” Packard says. “The engines have performed well with high availability. These engines have definitely been a good fit for our application.”

Download our reciprocating engines brochure at burnsmcd.com/recip.

2015 No. 2 15

BACKGROUND Burns & McDonnell partnered with Valard Construction to design and build the Northwest Transmission Line (NTL). It’s a 213-mile, 287-kV transmission project for BC Hydro to deliver electricity to an area in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, that had not been connected to the utility’s grid. Extending from the Skeena Substation near Terrace to Bob Quinn Lake, the project was completed in July 2014 and was built to provide power to mining facilities and to promote development of clean, renewable energy generation projects in the region.

CHALLENGES The project involved installing the line in a remote location, through rough terrain and often in difficult weather conditions. The majority of the route lacked cellphone service, making communications a challenge. Rugged terrain and harsh weather conditions spurred safety concerns and required modification of construction plans. An intricate procurement effort involved close coordination of deliveries from across the globe. Mountain goats, bears and toad migrations raised environmental concerns. Special design and construction considerations were made at multiple river crossings and in avalanche zones.

Along the route, workers dealt with visibility issues brought on by rain and fog. Due to the rugged terrain and access issues, much of the equipment was installed using helicopters that were frequently unable to operate due to adverse weather conditions.

“This area is a temperate rainforest, so it was always drizzly and foggy,” says Todd Hunt, Burns & McDonnell’s construction manager for the project. “We had to adjust the schedule to accommodate visibility for the helicopters installing the towers.”

Heavy rains and significant snowfall brought the threat of landslides and avalanches. A landslide early in the project closed the only highway leading to the job site for several weeks.

ON S ITE

Neither Weather, Nor Terrain, Nor Bears Can Thwart New Northwest Transmission Line

POWERING THROUGH

BURNS & McDONNELL 16

SOLUTIONS Harsh weather conditions meant adding time to delivery schedules. Some days were dedicated to clearing snow off roads to allow access to the route.

Due to the route’s remote location, work camps were established to accommodate more than 400 field personnel. The camps included dorm-style rooms, a cafeteria and an entertainment area.

“Living in a camp has its challenges,” says Andy Jarvis, vice president in Burns & McDonnell’s Transmission & Distribution Group, who led the project’s design efforts. “But the nearest hotels required six- to seven-hour drives to the job sites each day, so alternative lodging options were necessary.”

A 21-day work schedule, with seven days off between stints, provided workers some downtime away from the camps.

With cell service unavailable along most of the route, satellite telephones were used for project support and emergency situations. Limited Internet access was also satellite-based.

The team used tablets to transmit updated drawings to the field, providing significant costs savings compared with printing and shipping to remote locations.

Items that had to be brought in — construction materials such as towers from India, hardware from Italy, conductor from the U.S., and fiber-optic wire from South Korea — were delivered initially to a central material yard in Terrace, where they could be sorted for distribution. Laydown yards along the route allowed for further receiving, sorting and transferring of materials to sites, according to a detailed and coordinated plans.

“It took a lot of effort by our procurement and expediting team to make it all happen without any adverse impacts to the construction schedule,” Jarvis says.

Because the project required long spans to make major river crossings, the team coordinated closely with multiple permitting agencies to meet required clearances and other crossing

requirements. Because the area is a popular for heli-skiing, red and white aerial marker balls were placed on some major crossings and long spans to help prevent aircraft from colliding with the lines.

Special design considerations were made to fortify equipment in areas susceptible to high winds and avalanches. Avalanche diversion berms where built around towers, and conductors were designed to break away from towers when loads from avalanches become too heavy.

“In those cases, it makes sense to sacrifice the conductor as is takes less time and cost to reinstall the conductor than to rebuild the towers,” Jarvis says.

Designers also followed the most stringent earthquake guidelines during design, calling for use of alternate foundations where necessary to avoid damage to the structures due to shifts in the earth.

The project schedule was adapted to account for several environmental concerns along the route. Construction was restricted for months in mountain goat ranges. Bridges were built over fish-bearing streams. Tower locations were modified to avoid disrupting the Western toad migration. Disturbances to wetland areas were mitigated. Surveys of bear dens were conducted to assess the presence of grizzly bears. Workers carried bear repellent and “bear bangers” — firecracker-like noise makers — that helped repel the beasts.

As the construction schedule was limited due to weather conditions and environmental concerns, the project team increased the workforce during periods when construction was more favorable to maximize production.

“There were nearly 18 months of delays that we mitigated back to four and a half months by using more crews, more helicopters, more staff and creative procurement strategies to help move the project through quicker,” says Todd Hunt, Burns & McDonnell’s construction manager for the project.

Because the project crossed eight First Nations territories and sovereign land of Nisga’a Nation, the project team met with their representatives early in the project development process to receive feedback on the project and to help identify opportunities for their members to become involved. Members handled much of the work clearing right-of-way, building access roads and conducting environmental monitoring.

OUTCOME This first major international undertaking by Burns & McDonnell’s Transmission & Distribution Group has led to additional opportunities in Canada. The firm has established a regional office in Calgary, Alberta, to accommodate the growth.

“Through the Northwest Transmission Line project, we’ve shown we have the capabilities to take on a project of this size and with this level of difficulty, which has led to opportunities we may not have had without it,” Jarvis says.

For BC Hydro, the project has opened the door to growth in the northern region of the province. The project delivers power that supports the area’s growing mining industries, and has led to projects now under development. The mining industry has estimated the project has the potential to attract $15 billion in new investment and create more than 10,000 new jobs in the next few decades.

For more information, contact Andy Jarvis, 816-822-3951.

“There were nearly 18 months of delays that we mitigated back to four and a half months.”

ON S ITE

2015 No. 2 17

NEED TO KNOW

Adjusting to EPA’s Clean Power Plan

EPA ‘BUILDING BLOCKS’ FOR STATES Borgstadt says the new EPA policy lays out three “building blocks” for states to lower carbon emissions:• Make existing coal plants more efficient to reduce carbon emissions.• Increase use of existing natural gas-fired plants.• Increase use of renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar, as well as nuclear power.

PREPARING FOR CHALLENGESBefore a utility can challenge one or more of the proposed rules in court, it first must formally express its particular objections to the EPA. That means reviewing the policy — and its hundreds of support documents — for potential action.

To help clients prepare, Burns & McDonnell professionals are combing the proposed rules with an eye toward which items could be particularly troublesome and potentially prompt a legal challenge.

Andrews and Borgstadt say the new federal policy will require them to respond and interact in ways they’re not accustomed to.

“The key is it touches a lot more people than typical regulations have,” Andrews says. “It’s a new shift for utilities beyond what they have control over.

“Interested parties will want to work with a broad range of knowledge including transmission, new planning, research, the environment, decommissioning and more.”

For more information, contact Block Andrews, 816-349-6796, or Mike Borgstadt, 816-822-3459.

Now that the federal Environmental Protection Agency has finished its new Clean Power Plan, one outcome has become clear: The nation’s approach to reducing carbon dioxide emissions is poised to change significantly.

And that’s why Block Andrews and Mike Borgstadt of Burns & McDonnell are helping electric utilities, regional transmission groups, the coal industry and others affected by the new policy prepare for what lies ahead.

“Utilities must take it seriously now,” Andrews says.

The new EPA policy calls for cutting carbon emissions from the power sector nationwide by 32 percent below 2005 levels. And the agency is telling states it will be up to them to figure out how to reach that goal.

That means broader responsibilities for utilities, according to Andrews, an associate environmental engineer in the Energy Group, and Borgstadt, a manager with the Business & Technology Services Group.

Until now, utilities only have been accountable for meeting federal requirements for their own facilities. The new approach will link their efforts to how individual states perform in meeting the federal standard.

“If you’re an electric utility, you not only need to control things within your plant, but work with the state Public Service Commission to help achieve the state goals,” Andrews says.

“The big thing is it seeks to significantly reduce coal use and increase reliance on natural gas and renewable energy sources.”

BURNS & McDONNELL 18

OFFLINE

they could continue to focus on their core business of manufacturing.”

Now it’s been more than a decade, and the Burns & McDonnell FES group continues to manage engineering services, saving operational costs and helping the facility remain focused on defense.

“It creates a consistency of in-house staff with the support of the larger firm when needed,” says Jeff Barrett, vice president in FES. “We provide a dedicated core staff who have building knowledge, are proficient with facility engineering, and can get things done quickly with rapid access to all of Burns & McDonnell’s technical service offerings.”

That partnership proved invaluable when the NNSA determined it was time to build a new, more efficient facility for its production services. Built during the World War II era, the complex effectively accomplished its mission while facing mounting challenges regarding efficiencies. In recent years, only half of the facility’s space was being used. Honeywell hired Burns & McDonnell as a subcontractor to develop the new

Every facility has it: a function that may not be part of the core business, but remains critical to its success. For many that function is engineering services — a key part of operation that requires professionals with a unique skill set and experience.

That’s where the Burns & McDonnell Facility Engineering Services (FES) Group comes in for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) facility in Kansas City, Missouri.

The advanced manufacturing and engineering facility produces intricate components to enhance the safety and security of our nation’s defense programs. However, despite stellar scores in the performance-based evaluation system, the aging 3 million-square-foot complex began having issues that were getting in the way of the facility’s mission.

“The facility operated for a long time with facility engineering done in-house,” says Randy Pope, senior vice president in the Burns & McDonnell Aviation & Federal Group. “They recognized if they brought the Burns & McDonnell FES group in,

The new 1.5 million-square-foot National Nuclear Security Administration campus

in Kansas City, Missouri, provides greater efficiency for defense projects.

THE RIGHT FIT

FES Group Facilitates Efficiency at NNSA Facility

complex’s requirements and act as the owner’s representative during design and construction. In addition, the FES group made moving into the new facility a relatively painless procedure. In overseeing one of the largest moves in NNSA history — approximately 3,000 pieces of equipment and 40,000 moving crates — the FES group coordinated relocation of contents from a nearly 3 million square-foot campus into the new 1.5 million-square-foot facility. And it was accomplished under budget, ahead of schedule and with an outstanding safety record.

“Coordinating that kind of move takes a level of understanding another firm just wouldn’t have,” Barrett says. “Because our client had previously established a flexible core facility engineering group that understands their facility challenges, they were in a position to be very successful on this major transformation of their business.”

For more information, contact Jeff Barrett, 816-803-4705.