The Rocky Mountain Energy Center

Submitted by TIC - The Industrial Company

Calpine Corp. of San Jose entered into a power purchase agreement with Xcel Energy to furnish 600 MW of power from a site on Colorado's Front Range. This power purchase agreement was part of Excel's 1999 request for power.

Calpine hired Utility Engineering of Denver to design the plant and TIC - The Industrial Company - to be the general contractor. This plant will serve 60,000 people in Denver and along the Front Range, ensuring an adequate power supply well into the future.

The plant was designed as a combined cycle, utilizing two Siemens Westinghouse 501F (150 MW) gas turbines, two Nooter Erickson Heat Recovery Steam Generators and a Siemens KN steam turbine (300 MW). The plant also utilized a 12-cell Hamon cooling tower for process cooling.

TIC was the general contractor, self-performing all major construction disciplines and completing an excess of 950,000 manhours. It peaked at over 370 people onsite, not including subcontractors.

The project was fully partnered with the owners, engineers, major equipment suppliers and TIC. The master schedule was developed jointly, including engineering, procurement and construction. Constructability reviews were ongoing in the engineering office throughout the design stages.

The project was completed with an exemplary safety record and only took 18 months from mobilization to completion, with commercial operation ahead of schedule.
A challenge at the height of construction was the largest blizzard in 100 years, but the project was completed under budget for all partners.

Project Team

Owner: LLC Calpine
Engineer: Utility Engineering Corp.
General Contractor: TIC - The Industrial Company
Major Subs: Ames Construction, Ingersoll Rand, J.D. Steel, Nooter-Erickson, Rampart Supply, Rocky Mountain Fabrication, Southwest Concrete Pumping Inc., U.S. Filter

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