COST AND SCHEDULE ADVANTAGES FOR COMBUSTION TURBINE GENERATOR CONSTRUCTION USING THE DESIGN BUILD APPROACH

摘要

There was a time not so long ago when most utilities had large engineering staffs, charged to overhead, that were kept busy designing new power plants. Utilities were in the growth phase of their life cycle and capacity additions consisted of greenfield conventional and nuclear power plants. This created a certain methodology for estimating costs, appropriating funds, accounting for the costs and contracting the construction of these projects. It also created an entire industry consisting of engineering firms, construction management firms, general contractors, contractors, subcontractors and suppliers to meet the project delivery needs of the utilities. Since in the formerly regulated Public Utility Industry capital investments were ultimately funded by rate increases, cost accountability was all-important. This resulted in little or no competition to drive down the costs of capacity additions. The competition introduced by deregulation has changed that picture significantly. Strategically managed companies are re-directing investment capital away from their mature power plants and toward new power plants that will better compliment their generation portfolio and provide the best long term return on their investment (ROI). The current market for peaking capacity has created an unprecedented demand for construction of simple cycle combustion turbine power plants. The majority of the newly created Merchant Power Industry capacity additions now consist of greenfield plants, which must be operational prior to the summer peak demand. The ideal location for these facilities is at an intersection of major natural gas and electric transmission lines. The attractiveness of these locations is the lower cost to interconnect with the gas and electric utilities and to minimize environmental impact through the interconnection to these facilities. Simple cycle combustion turbine plants can be brought to market faster than other technologies and typically have a shorter permit period.