STANLEYCONSULTANTS

PUNTA CATALINA, DOMINICAN REPUBLICThe 750 MW (nominal) Punta Catalina power plant in the Caribbean country of the Dominican Republic is a large, complex project designed and built by an international consortium under an EPC contract with the Corporation Dominicana de Empresas Electricas Estatales, or CDEEE.The CDEEE is a state-owned authority that is building the plant to address chronic power outages and electricity shortages on the island. It also desired to reduce its heavy reliance on burning highly polluting heavy fuel oil, which produces high emissions of carbon dioxide, sulphur and particulate matter. The new plant would provide a reliable source of base-load electricity fueled by modern coal-fired units that would be fitted with low NOx burners, dry scrubbers, and bag houses to lessen emissions of nitrous oxides (NOx), sulphur oxides (SOx) and particulates.

Fuel from nearby Columbia is shipped to oceanside Punta Catalina and received at a specially designed and constructed pier that juts a mile offshore. The pier is designed with equipment enabling ships to self-unload and coal is transported to the plant on a covered pipe conveyer belt.The units use a once-through cooling water design that uses sea water. The condensers use titanium tubing to avoid sea water corrosion issues. The water supply for use in the boilers is another design intricacy. The most available source of water was naturally the ocean, but in a steam cycle make-up system in the boiler, water must be as mineral-free as possible. Seawater is fed into a dual train reverse osmosis desalination system and further demineralized with an electro-deionization system for boil-quality water.

CLIENT Corporación Dominicana de Empresas Eléctricas Estatales

COMPLETION 2018

Protecting Owner’s Interest in Mega Power Plant Construction

STANLEYCONSULTANTS

The consortium under the engineer-procure-construct (EPC) contract includes a design firm from Italy and construction firms from Brazil and the Dominican Republic. Parts were supplied from all over the world. As owner’s engineer, Stanley Consultants played a major role in protecting owner’s interest. Stanley Consultants established an oversight and communication program to coordinate observation and monitoring of construction quality and adherence to schedule. They issued instructions to the contractor clarifying and interpreting contract documents. The sheer volume of design and contractors’ drawings reviewed was enormous: more than 54,000 in all, at a pace of from 400 to 1,000 per week. Engineers have also traveled to factories to verify that the equipment was in conformance with specifications.Stanley Consultants implemented daily, weekly and monthly reporting systems, inspected project work and placed corrective measures on punch lists. Engineers also reviewed and tracked the operation and maintenance manual developed by the EPC contractor and monitored commissioning, start-up, preliminary operation and equipment and software system testing.One result of the design and construction monitoring program was when Stanley Consultants oversaw repairs made to turbine pedestal. During construction, rebar was found missing from a turbine building pedestal. Because the pedestal needed superior anchoring to withstand turbine forces and seismic activity, the contractor had to tear out and rebuild the structure to standards. Stanley Consultants oversaw the repair process and required the contractor to engage third party experts to ensure the best repair practical. Early in the boiler erection process, Stanley Consultants determined that the contractor was not going to erect the boiler per ASME boiler and pressure vessel

code. Stanley Consultants enforced the contractual requirements early enough to minimize the impact on project schedule, erection quality and cost.The project required large amounts of fill, or dirt, in site preparation. The contractor used fill that did not meet the requirements of the technical specifications. The contractor considered the issue of fill as mundane and one that did not require their constant attention. Stanley Consultants doggedly enforced the requirement since the use of improper fill can result in future setting of the civil work that would be very difficult to repair.In another instance, owner’s engineers saw that a drainage plan was missing from designs, and made sure it was included. Engineers also inspected welds on steel structures and recommended corrections to make them strong enough to meet drawing specifications. When construction was delayed due to a financing glitch, Stanley Consultants advised its client on schedule and sequencing, about the true scheduling capabilities of the contractor and made sure work was completed. Punta Catalina’s emission projection is for 400 milligrams per cubic meter of NOx and SO2, compared to Dominican standards pf 750 mg and World Bank standards of 510. Its particulate matter emission will be 30 mg/Nm3, compared to the nation’s and World Bank standards of 50 mg.When completed, the new power generating units will serve millions of people in the Dominican Republic with reliable, affordable electricity while lowering overall air emissions