SPX Corporation announced that its Thermal Equipment and Services segment has been awarded a contract to supply an air-cooled condenser (ACC) for a new 1.3 GW natural gas-fired, combined cycle power plant. Dominion Virginia Power, a subsidiary of Dominion, plans to build the new power station facility in Warren County, Virginia.
The contract was awarded to SPX by Warren County Energy Partners, a joint venture of Burns & McDonnell and Zachry Industrial, Inc., and calls for SPX to supply one of the biggest ACCs in the world in what is expected to be one of the largest combined cycle power plants ever installed in the Americas. The Warren County Power Station is scheduled to be constructed on a 39-acre site in the Warren Industrial Park, approximately three miles north of Front Royal, Virginia.
According to Dominion, the new station will feature three combustion turbines and a steam turbine, and will be powered solely by natural gas, making it one of the cleanest fossil fuel-fired facilities in the nation. The station is expected to generate enough energy to power approximately 325,000 homes, and Dominion anticipates that the plant’s close proximity to Northern Virginia will enable it to serve a growing, high-demand region in the company’s service area.
«This newest order is a testament to our decades of experience in designing and providing cooling systems for nearly all types of power stations, including natural gas-fired combined cycle plants,» said Drew Ladau, SPX segment president. «Our deep understanding and proficiency in air cooled condenser technology allows us to provide large power plants with advanced, state-of-the-art cooling solutions to meet their specific needs.»
Diminishing water resources have led to the growth of dry cooling systems worldwide. An air cooled condenser is made of modules arranged in parallel rows, with each module containing a number of fin tube heat exchanger cores. An axial flow, forced-draft fan located in each module forces cooling air across the heat exchange area of the fin tubes. This technology allows for the elimination of water usage from the condensing power cycle, as well as flexibility in power plant site selection and decreased time required for plant permitting.
SPX Cooling Technologies’ 60 Module (10×6) SRC A-frame ACC is scheduled to be installed in the plant during 2013. The facility is expected to be operational by December 2014.
SPX Thermal Equipment and Services is a leading global provider of evaporative and hybrid cooling towers and solutions, air-cooled condensers, heat exchangers, air and flue gas systems and filter systems. These technologies support thousands of customers in the power generation, industrial, refrigeration, and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC/R) markets.
