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Trades return to Karn-Weadock for 'major, major modifications' By Marty Mulcahy Editor

Date Posted: February 6 2004

ESSEXVILLE – The building trades have once again returned in droves to the Consumers Energy’s Karn-Weadock Generating Complex, this time taking part in an 86-day facility shutdown that will encompass the most extensive renovation project in the plant’s history.

The outage began Jan. 24 and focuses on the coal-fired Karn Unit 1. The project is broken down into two major areas: preventative maintenance on plant components, and tying in the newly constructed Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) unit. The SCR was constructed by the building trades and was built to put the plant in compliance with new federal clean air requirements.

“We’re looking for every opportunity to put power on the grid at the lowest cost possible,” said Calvin Talley, Karn-Weadock’s general manager. “And the work that will be performed during this outage will help us do that. We work side by side with the building trades on these projects, and the work that they do is very important. We’re committed to building our relationship with the building trades.”

The Karn-Weadock plant regularly employs about 370 workers, but during this outage, an additional 800 workers wearing hard hats will work at the facility at peak employment. Crews will work two 10-hour shifts a day, seven days a week. Some of the major items on the to-do list:

  • Replacement of the boiler economizer and other equipment used to re-heat steam. Steam passes through one turbine and then is re-heated for maximum efficiency.
  • Open up, inspect and make any necessary repairs on the unit’s two electric generators.
  • Overhaul the unit’s high-pressure, intermediate-pressure and low-pressure turbines.
  • Replace nearly 40 lineal miles of steel water-wall boiler tube. Richard Kirch, the project’s outage manager for Consumers Energy, said that means about 20 percent of the tubing in Unit 1 will be replaced. “And all this is going on while Karn Unit 2 is still in operation,” Kirch said.
  • Tying in the SCR is alone a $120 million project. During this outage work will include replacement of the unit’s induced draft fans and modifications to the economizer dust removal and air handling systems. Modifications will also be made to the unit’s electrical systems to handle the increased electrical load and connecting the SCR to a new digital control system.

“The site planning for this outage began more than two years ago,” said John Gose, project manager for the SCR construction. “There’s a ton of people here because there’s a lot of work to do. The entire project is going to involve some major, major boiler modifications.”

Primary contractors include Babcock and Wilcox for the SCR project, Duke and Duke for turbine work, Alstom-ABB for boiler repair, Monarch Engineering and Welding for condenser re-tubing duct work and feed-water heater replacement, and Newkirk Electric for electrical work.

“This is the largest project the plant has experienced since the Karn 1 unit came on line in the late 1950s,” said Ken DesJardins, business manager, base-load production. “So with all the work going on, the real challenge is making sure we have a safe working environment and good coordination between our own employees and the trades.”

The Karn-Weadock Generating Complex is Consumers Energy’s largest power production complex and consists of three separate plants: the 310-megawatt coal-fueled Weadock plant; the 511-megawatt coal-fueled Karn 1 & 2 plant; and the 1276-megawatt natural gas- and oil-fueled Karn 3 & 4 plant.

Together, Karn/Weadock and associated combustion turbines can generate up to 2,526 megawatts, enough to meet the electric needs of Bay City, Saginaw, Midland and Flint combined.


A BLANKET FOR a circulating water valve is cut to size and assembled by (l-r) Dale Noykos and Grant Glazer of Heat and Frost Insulators Local 47, who were working at the Consumers Energy Karn-Weadock Generating Complex.


THE SEAM ON A four-inch pipe for moving blower air is ground by John Brink of Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 85 and Babcock and Wilcox.