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Power Plant - Salvage & Dismantlement - Calpine

Overview

History

Calpine decided to close, for business reasons, its 56MW cogeneration plant in Newark, NJ. Phoenix acquired the site and committed to perform the total demolition, returning it to a parking lot, at no cost to Calpine. The plant, built in the early 1990’s, was compromised of a 40 MW GE Frame 6B Gas Turbine Generator, a 20 MW ABB Alstom Steam Turbine Generator, an HRSG and all associated equipment. Its main building was a 90’ x 150’ x 45’ high (1) story structure. The HRSG had an 8’ diameter x 215’ high steel stack.

The site was located on a pad 4 to 6 feet above adjacent grades and surrounded by a paper recycling operation to its south and west; the site access road/railroad tracks to its north and an active street to its east.

Further complicating the salvage/demolition project, the energy company had already terminated electric power to the site and the soils below the plant had to be left undisturbed in place and capped.

Solution

Phoenix Equipment Corporation was chosen to perform the contract because:

Phoenix’s ability to market/sell equipment to re-users, lowering the project’s cost to the energy company.
Phoenix’s ability to devise a safe and efficient demolition work plan for the project in a confined/congested work area.
Phoenix’s ability to deal with Newark, NJ’s various governmental agencies, obtaining the necessary permits for the site.
Phoenix’s ability to coordinate/manage its necessary subcontractors to provide a safe and smooth running project

While waiting for the demolition permit to be issued for the project by the City of Newark, Phoenix had to salvage portions of the (2) turbines (a crane would be need to lift sections), portions of the water filtration units, the transformers and the cooling towers. Using an outside crane for the turbine and water filtration unit salvage would have cost too much and taken to long. Phoenix reactivated the building’s overhead crane for the project to capture the maximum benefit for the equipment salvage value, speed the salvage process and maximize the site’s minimum available space.

The 215’ high steel stack had to be taken down with cutting torches. The surrounding paper recycling facility had to be protected. Phoenix and its subcontractor sealed the scaffolding around the stack and contained all the sparks emitted by the torch cutting operation and used the chimney itself to chute the cut sections to the ground.

After Phoenix demolished the stripped building to its slab using hydraulic excavators equipped with shears and grapples, our site contractor sealed openings in the site’s concrete walls with rebar and concrete, processed on site masonry to level the site and covered the entire .75 acre site with a 3” base and 3” of asphalt.

Phoenix completed the project ahead of schedule garnering the maximum bonus available to it under the contract and a minimal cost to the energy company.