Weather wreaks havoc
But the magnitude of the task ahead was not to be underestimated. When workers re-entered the site in March 2004, they found the modern equivalent of a ghost town. Over the project's two-year hiatus, weather had taken its toll on the landscape, earthworks, and existing foundations. Muck had filled the vaults, and pits had to be excavated. Soot from nearby wildfires had settled everywhere, brush had grown up, and animals had moved in.
A major challenge centered on an array of equipment issues produced by the prolonged suspension. Bechtel had ordered most of the project's equipment between August 2001 and March 2002. Some parts, such as the HRSGs' casings, had just been delivered when work stopped in April 2002. Weather and exposure also exacted a toll on this gear: Workers found some units rusting away in their shipping containers, where they had been left two years earlier. Other equipment, including the generators' inner workings, had arrived later and been stored in a nearby warehouse. Switchgear, pumps, supports, and other items were scattered in various locations and had to be rounded up, inspected, and moved (Figure 4).
4. Left for rust. Workers found rusting equipment sitting in shipping containers where it had been left two years earlier. Courtesy: Bechtel Power
Tracking down spare parts proved no small challenge, either. According to Russell Koelsch, Mountainview's project manager, "Some vendors had gone out of business; others had closed the books on the orders. It was sometimes difficult to get their attention. But Bechtel kept the contracts alive and helped get the equipment we still needed."
In addition, as Koelsch explained, "We didn't anticipate the world we operated in would be different. Permits had expired and regulations had changed, so we had to redo some of that work. There's very little experience with power plants this large that have been stopped and then resumed. We were in new territory." Mountainview's construction site manager, Ed Budney, concurred. "Establishing a Mountainview presence was no easy task. It required everyone to work together in the best interests of the project," he said.
Simply put, everyone working together in the project's best interests was exactly the path needed—and followed—to ultimately bring Mountainview to completion.
Though the successful lift and erection of the CTs and their generators headed a list of significant accomplishments in 2004, as the year drew to a close much work still remained and many hurdles had yet to be overcome. In addition, as the project team soon learned, Mountainview would face some particularly tough challenges due to circumstances beyond anyone's control.
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