Owner’s Engineer for the Coal Handling Systems
of the new
700 MWe Longview Power Plant

Client

Longview Power, LLC
85 Wells Avenue, Suite 300
Newton, MA 02459-3215

Completion Date

October, 2008

Project Description

Energy Associates began working on the project in 2001, when the site was first being investigated for a coal-fired power plant by GenPower.  At that time, primary system parameters and design concepts for the coal, limestone, and ash handling systems were formulated by Energy Associates.  During the next several years, GenPower moved forward with project development, permitting, and contracting concepts for the plant.  The supercritical boiler was directly purchased from Foster Wheeler and assigned to the selected contractor, a consortium of Siemens and Aker Kvaerner.  The consortium was responsible for the complete plant with one major exception, the plant’s coal handling system.

When the project was approved and financially closed in January, 2007, Longview Power engaged Energy Associates as their engineer for the four (4) coal handling systems needed for the project.  These include the coal handling system at the plant itself in Maidsville, WV; a coal blending system (MEPCO Blending Yard) that was added to an existing coal preparation plant that is adjacent to the power plant site; the Dooley Run Terminal located near the primary fuel source for the plant, the 4-West Mine; and a four+ mile overland conveyor system that links the Dooley Run Terminal, which is located in Dunkard Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania to the MEPCO Blending Yard, which is located in Maidsville, West Virginia – an interstate overland conveyor system.

Energy Associates completed a number of studies to define the four (4) coal handling systems.  In one study, coal properties were investigated and these directly influenced the design of the plant’s coal handling system.  It was found that this relatively low grade fuel has poor flow characteristics, which affected the some elements of design being considered.  The design of the stacking/reclaiming portion of the system was modified to suite test results.  In other studies, the preferences/input of MEPCO (the mine owner and operating company for the Dooley Run Terminal, overland conveyor system, and the blending yard) were addressed and key issues incorporated into the design. 

Energy Associates prepared the bid specifications and bid drawings for the project.  The coal handling systems were awarded in three (3) stages; the Dooley Run Terminal and overland conveyor system were bid as a package.  Energy Associates completed the technical evaluations and reviewed the cost proposals/options submitted by each bidder.

Because the power plant EPC consortium had a design/construction head-start on the EPC coal handling contractor, the bid drawings for the coal handling system included numerous details and a specific footprint/foundation design.  This allowed plant systems, through which the coal handling system threads, to proceed in confidence that physical requirements were being considered - the work was being coordinated.

The photographs view the Longview Plant during construction. The crusher house and plant feed system to boiler silos are visible in two of these pictures. Note the proximity of the scrubber and tanks behind the conveyor system and plant roadways and a water runoff retention pond.