September 1, 2009

Top Plants: Goodman Energy Center, Hays, Kansas

Dr. Robert Peltier, PE

Water and Environmental Considerations

The Great Plains are known for limited water, so that precious resource must be carefully managed. In his remarks announcing the project, Lehman noted the importance he places on minimizing water consumption. The Goodman Energy Center "provides a clean, cost-effective way to meet the peak energy needs of our customers, and will improve service reliability. This project will provide an efficient resource with... negligible water consumption," he said.

The closed-circuit cooling water system used at GEC eliminates water consumption by that system and the water losses associated with water treatment equipment and wastewater disposal, as is common with central station plants. In fact, all water drained from the system during maintenance is stored and reused. The only water consumed at the site is for cleaning and domestic use (Figure 4).


4. Plant back yard. The exhaust gases from each engine exit the building, pass through the selective catalytic reduction system, and then enter the stack. The rusted steel stacks are made out of Cor-Ten steel (A606), which forms a protective rust layer that provides excellent corrosion protection and never needs painting. The fin-fan cooling units, also supplied by Wärtsilä, use clamp-style fittings to connect all the cooling water lines and reduced field construction labor cost by 40%. Courtesy: Burns & McDonnell

One other interesting construction feature: Fly ash from a local coal-fired power plant was used to stabilize the soil in graded areas prior to developing roads and pouring concrete foundations. Crushed, recycled concrete was used as original surfacing for all unpaved areas of the plant.

All grasslands outside the fence, except for the access road, have been returned to native grasses.

—Dr. Robert Peltier, PE is POWER’s editor-in-chief