Tenaska garners accolades for South Huntingdon power plant

The Tenaska Westmoreland Generating Station, a natural gas-fueled power plant in South Huntingdon, has been named Industrial Project of the Year by the Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania.

The 940-megawatt plant, which came online in December, can generate enough power for about 940,000 homes in the PJM Interconnection market. The grid coordinates power delivery for Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and all or parts of 10 other states, plus Washington, D.C.

Construction on the facility began in 2016 and was completed in time for a Dec. 21 startup.

ESWP General Manager David Teorsky said the awards committee was impressed with the size and scope of the Tenaska Westmoreland project on the one hand, and Tenaska’s “commitment to the local economy” on the other.

“When you have something so big online, and the project delivery teams are consumed with timetables and budgets, to be sensitive to other factors, like local communities and local businesses — that’s really admirable,” Teorsky said.

In addition to 650 jobs during peak construction, the project contracted with more than 100 regional businesses, according to Tenaska. Direct construction costs topped $500 million.

Accepting the award at the ESWP’s 135th annual banquet earlier this month were Tenaska Westmoreland plant Manager Robert Mayfield; Todd Oppeau, Westmoreland project manager for Black & Veatch; and John Spatafore and Mike Roarty of P.J. Dick Industrial/Trumbull Energy Services.

Black & Veatch, of Overland Park, Kan., was the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor on the project, and P.J. Dick, of Pittsburgh, was the substructure contractor.

“Using advanced, high-efficiency turbine technology and a recycled water-cooling process, the Westmoreland project draws on our history of combining large-scale EPC capability with technology that delivers clean power,” Oppeau said. “Power customers benefit from a reliable source of efficient energy, and we provided our client with a single point of contact across all phases of the project.”

Vasu Pinapati, Tenaska vice president for engineering, said the company is honored to share the award with its partners.

“The successful completion of the project was certainly a team effort, and we appreciate the focused approach to project completion from Black & Veatch, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Siemens, Nooter/Eriksen and our many other contractors,” Pinapati said. “We look forward to Tenaska Westmoreland being a member of the business community for many years to come.”

The facility near Smithton includes the latest gas turbine and water-cooling technology, two new natural gas pipelines, a 500 kV switchyard and switching station, and 1.5 miles of power transmission lines, according to Black & Veatch.

The Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp. and the Westmoreland County Economic Growth Connection named Tenaska Westmoreland one of the top five economic development projects of 2018.