Luminant Oak Grove Solid-Fueled Power Generating Station - EPC

Client: Luminant Energy

Location: Franklin, TX, U.S.

Industry: Power

Map showing the location of Luminant Oak Grove Solid-Fueled Power Generating Station - EPC

Executive Summary

Fluor provided engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) and commissioning services for a super-critical 2 x 800MW unit, coal-fired, steam-electric generating station for Luminant Energy (formerly TXU), in Robertson County, Texas.

The Oak Grove project was recognized by Power Magazine with the 2010 Plant of the Year award. It was also a 2010 finalist in Premier Construction at the Platts Global Energy awards, as well as a 2011 finalist for Project Management Institute's International Project of the Year award.

Client's Challenge

Luminant Energy optimizes the purchases and sales of energy for TXU Energy and Luminant, and provides related services to other market participants. Luminant Energy is the largest purchaser of wind-generated electricity in Texas and the fifth largest in the United States.

Luminant Energy required additional power generation capacity to meet the growing demand for electricity in Texas. The company decided to construct the new Oak Grove power plant at a previously planned site in Robertson County, Texas.

The new station uses steam generators, steam turbines, high-energy piping, major pumps and other equipment purchased but not installed for the previous project and new equipment and systems needed for a complete turnkey power station.

Significant infrastructure is also in place to support the new power generating station. Lignite was shipped by rail from a mine 20 miles away to the new power station. With both units online, they will supply electricity to approximately 1 million homes.

Fluor's Solution

We provided EPC and commissioning services for a 2 x 800MW unit, coal-fired, steam-electric generating station.

We used the best available control technology to minimize emissions at the new plant, which has among the lowest sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and mercury emissions in the nation and will be 75 percent cleaner than the average U.S. coal plant.

The control technology includes steam generators with selective catalytic reduction, flue gas particulate removal, and wet flue gas desulfurization systems to meet emissions requirements.

We used our global execution center in India to support engineering, and a Fluor subsidiary provided construction equipment and consumables to meet the extremely aggressive schedule. We also leveraged our global procurement network to buy quality products such as the chimney, high-alloy pipe and emissions control systems at competitive prices and with shorter delivery schedules.

Additionally, we worked with state and local government representatives and community and technical colleges throughout Texas to attract, recruit and hire local talent to meet the construction resource requirements of the project, which was expected to peak at 2,400 staff.

Conclusion

To meet Luminant's aggressive schedule, we relied on engineers in New Delhi, global procurement specialists to buy products and a Fluor subsidiary to supply construction equipment and consumables.

We used advanced control technologies to make the Oak Grove super-critical generating station one of the cleanest coal-fired power plants in the U.S. while providing electricity to more than 1 million customers in Texas.