NIPSCO plant work will bring jobs, bring plant into EPA compliance
By Carrie Napoleon Post-Tribune correspondent July 23, 2011 10:20PM
Green covers make it easy to spot the hundreds of concrete pilings put in place as work continues at the NIPSCO R.M.Schahfer Generating Station in Westville June 30, 2011. | Andy Lavalley~Sun-Times Media
Updated: January 23, 2012 3:10AM
WHEATFIELD — Work is under way on a construction project at Northern Indiana Public Service Co.’s R.M. Schahfer generating plant that will create more than 1,000 jobs over the next eight years.
The project, happening at a time when substantial new construction projects are virtually nonexistent, will mean jobs for locals tradespeople for years to come and an economic shot in the arm for the region as workers begin spending their paychecks.
“These investments we’re making are long-term here … We’re not talking about one year and done,” said Nick Meyer, NIPSCO spokesman.
The $300 million investment at Schahfer is part of an estimated $600 to $800 million overall investment by NIPSCO that will satisfy the terms of an agreement between the energy provider and the Environmental Protection Agency reached in January to improve air quality from its coal-fired generating plants.
Work is also planned at the Bailly Station in Chesterton and in Michigan City and will begin in a couple years. The work needed at these plants is not as extensive as the project at Schahfer, which is NIPSCO’s largest plant supplying about 50 percent of the company’s electricity.
The settlement agreement stems from a complaint by the EPA in 2004 accusing NIPSCO of installing equipment at the plants in Chesterton, Michigan City and Wheatfield in the 1980s and 1990s without first obtaining the required permits. The EPA said the equipment was supposed to be state of the art but was not.
As part of the agreement over the next several years workers will install flue gas desulfurization units for the No. 14 and No. 15 generators at Schahfer that will use water and chemicals to “scrub” the nitrous oxide and sulfur dioxide from the emissions at the plant leaving most of what is seen escaping the giant chimney’s at the site as water vapor, said Kurt Sangster, NIPSCO’s project director.
Work installing the FGDs is highly specialized with only five or six companies in the world capable of the design, Sangster said. NIPSCO will bring those experts in to design the equipment and oversee local contracting companies who fabricate and construct the equipment on-site.
Hiring will span all trades with the project needing iron workers, pipe fitters, boilermakers, insulation installers, electricians, masons, painters, brick layers, millwrights and carpenters.
Work will last for years
On a recent tour of the facility workers could be seen setting heavy-duty rebar carefully into place for the foundation of what will be the new 499-foot tall combined chimney for the flues from the two generators. Other workers were busy sinking 40-foot deep, 2-foot wide cement footings down to the bedrock. At the time, 211 were complete.
A 6-foot deep foundation will help ensure the structure is seismically sound and safe for 100-year winds, Sangster said.
Sargent Electric of East Chicago is among the local firms tapped for a portion of the work. The company is installing the embedded conduit in the foundation and chimney, according to Dave Jones, a superintendent for Sargent. Jones is also a member of the Wheatfield Town Board.
“We’ve hired 15 additional guys right now just to get started,” Jones said. He said the company could hire anywhere up to 60 workers as they move forward. Without this job, that hiring would not have happened.
Those workers are among the between 120 and 130 new trade laborers currently on site and that number will gradually continue to climb, said Jerry Wisdom, supervising engineer for NIPSCO.
“We’re just starting to ramp up,” he said.
Once the foundation and preparation work is complete, the project and the number of workers on site will begin to climb. Sangster expects two shifts to be running once work is in full swing.
In anticipation of the influx of workers, new parking lots and entrances have been added. Trailers have been set up for workers for lunch areas and breaks, and the plant is prepping a trailer village for workers who use a camper to stay on the job site.
A flashing red light has been installed in Indiana 49 at the plant’s entrance to warn of high traffic. For the first time, the entrance will be landscaped.
“Building a job like this is pretty incredible,” Wisdom said.
Work on the first generator is expected to take about three years. Work on the second generating unit will be complete by the 2018 deadline.
Meyer said the project at Shaffer is significant and will address not only the settlement with the EPA but will improve overall emissions at the 30-plus-year-old generating plant that will comply with future standards.
“We sat down and took a look at future upcoming regulations and attempted to plan to meet those more stringent emission reduction levels. What is laid out is essentially a plan to meet future limits,” Meyer said.
Comments Click here to view or make a comment