Weston RICE Generating Station

Project Summary

Our team provided construction, pipe prefabrication and pipe installation services for a new reciprocating engine generation facility on the site of the existing coal-fired Weston Generating Station. The plant uses seven Wartsila W18V50SG engines for a net output of 130 megawatts (MW).

Before plant startup, the team discovered the cooling water piping for the plant had been reversed by the original equipment manufacturer. Typically, cooling water piping leaves each engine, goes underground, then comes back above ground to the radiators; the connections are at different elevations, but side by side. To correct the situation, we designed a solution to crisscross the piping at the radiators to reverse the flow direction — which would mean pipe redesign, remanufacture and reinstall.

Working with worldwide resources, the team modeled and designed the change overnight, ready for the on-site team the next morning. The drawings were then routed to our prefabrication team, who fabricated 70 pipes for 35 radiators and delivered to the site within a week. To verify all custom fabrication addressed slight variations in equipment, the pipe fabrication shop foreman visited the site to measure each location.

The solution was delivered with a less than two-week project delay.