OWNER: Calpine Corp., Hicksville, NY
DESIGN ENGINEER: Power Engineers, Boise, Idaho
ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR: Welsbach Electric Corp., College Point, NY
EQUIPMENT SUPPLIER: GE Energy Services, Schenectady, NY
EQUIPMENT SUPPLIER: Nooter-Erikson, Bensalem, Pa.
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Slattery Skanska Inc., Whitestone, NY

In less than four months, the project team for the $21 million Bethpage Power Plant in Hicksville, N.Y. for Calpine Corp., constructed a 48-megawatt power plant in an effort to prevent power outages on Long Island during summer months.

The task before the project team included procurement, installation, construction, testing, commissioning and turning over the facility to the owner within 100 days. The guiding principle established at the onset of the project and maintained throughout its duration was "teamwork."

Within the 100-day schedule, the project team constructed a gas-fired, simple-cycle peaking plant complete with a General Electric LM 6000 turbine generator set, sophisticated pollution control equipment, a 100-ft.-tall stack and a combustion air chiller system wit associated piping, pumps and glycol-cooling equipment.

Included in the project is the installation of 8,500 lin. ft. of surface and underground process piping, 40,000 ft. of conduit, 2,100 ft. of cable tray with 200,000 ft. power and control cable and placement of 900 cu. yds. of structural concrete for six major and several secondary equipment foundations.

In addition to the fast-track schedule, the project team also had to deal with an extremely small site with limited access, coordination of the delivery of equipment purchased by the owner and installed by the general contractor and the sensitive conditions caused by working in and near an existing live power plant.

The tight schedule led the project team to develop creative time-saving construction methods. One example of this was proactive planning by the general contractor, which shaved extensive time off the schedule. In addition, to save time and money, a 200-ft.-long pipe rack was built to house the utilities instead of placing the utilities underground. Had this not been done, costly and time-consuming excavation would have had to be done to place the utilities underground.

In addition, sonotubes were used. Sonotubes for this project consisted of 12-in.-dia., 1-ft.-long heavy cardboard tubes inserted into holes in the ground, then filled with concrete.

The decision to use sonotubes in lieu of anchor bolts for the pipe rack structure's footings also saved time and money since the anchor bolts would have had to be drilled into a concrete slab, which the team would not have been able to pour until later in the job.

To fast-track the electrical components, such as the installation of the cable tray, the pulling of the cable and making terminals for all electrical connections, an electrical subcontractor, Welsbach Electric Corp., had its crews put in the extra hours necessary.

Because of tight site constraints, there was no room for staging and equipment storage. The solution was leasing property adjacent to the site for this purpose.

This project is a classic example of true teamwork. Because of the tight schedule, the assignment would not have been complete on time unless all team members approached the job with the same goal.

The jury cited "excellent execution of the project by the contractor" and noted that the project started and completed in four months as reasons for recognizing this project.