Kern River Cogeneration Facility

Historic Project: Groundbreaking Work From Earlier in Fluor’s History

Client: Southern California Edison Company

Location: Bakersfield, CA, U.S.

Business Segment: Energy Solutions

Industry: Power

Map showing the location of Kern River Cogeneration Facility

Executive Summary

This 300 MWe cogeneration plant was completed for Southern California Edison Company's Kern River Cogeneration Company, a joint venture with Texaco, Inc.

Fluor was awarded the engineering, procurement, construction management and start-up work to provide a turnkey delivery for the project

Client's Challenge

Power output is delivered to the Southern California Edison electric distribution network, and the 1.8 million lb/hr steam product is directed to Texaco's oil field injection wells for the enhanced recovery of highly viscous oil

Fluor's Solution

Four 75 MWe dual-fuel combustion turbine generators are coupled to heat-recovery steam generators. Inlet air to the turbines is passed through evaporative coolers, thereby increasing power production during the summer months, and the latest combustion system configuration ensures engine reliability while meeting NOx abatement requirements.

The once-through heat-recovery steam generators produce 80% quality steam from the recovered water of the production oil wells. This steam is directed into underground oil-bearing strata to warm the resident oil.

A distributed monitoring system controls the plant from a central control room. A monitoring system continuously analyzes exhaust stack emissions to ensure compliance with air quality requirements.

Conclusion

Fluor completed the construction in a tight eleven-month period using local labor. Timely equipment deliveries, a sound construction plan and efficient execution of the plan led to the project's completion ahead of schedule.