bnr-Lackawanna-Energy-Center
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Lackawanna Energy Center

The Lackawanna Energy Center powers more than a million homes with cleaner, more reliable energy. Our work supporting Invenergy helped deliver a facility that strengthens the grid and supports a sustainable future.

Location

  • Pennsylvania, USA

Client

  • BlackRock

Project Status

  • Completed

Invenergy needed to significantly increase clean energy capacity to power more than one million homes while replacing older, less efficient power plants in the PJM Interconnection regional transmission organization (RTO).

This required a highly efficient, flexible solution capable of meeting both baseload and variable energy demands driven by regional renewable resources.
To address this need, we provided owner's engineering services and multidiscipline field engineering support, including civil and mechanical, during construction for the Lackawanna Energy Center, a state-of-the-art, 1,485-MW natural gas combined-cycle facility.

 

Engineering oversight

Designed to respond rapidly to fluctuations in energy demand, the plant was, at the time, the largest and most advanced project Invenergy had undertaken.

Our team monitored all aspects of the build, including physical erection of the plant, piping installation and start-up and turnover activities, ensuring compliance with contractual requirements and sound engineering practices.

   

Homes powered
1,000,000
MW natural gas combined cycle facility
1485

First-of-a-kind configuration

Technically, the project achieved several notable milestones. The facility incorporated three H-class air-cooled natural gas combustion turbines, enabling flexible operation and quick response to variable energy demands.

Its innovative design featured three 500-MW power islands, each with a single generator combining a combustion turbine and steam turbine, allowing independent operation while maximizing efficiency — a first-of-its-kind configuration.

Other key features include fuel gas interconnects to Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee gas pipeline and electrical interconnects through PPL at 230-kV.

Mountainside construction

Additionally, the plant was constructed on a geotechnically complex mountainside in northeastern Pennsylvania, where we identified settlement monitoring requirements and helped establish mitigation measures to ensure long-term stability.

Our team’s thorough oversight and innovative engineering delivered a landmark facility that set a new standard for efficiency, flexibility and reliability in the PJM region.

The facility incorporated three H-class air-cooled natural gas combustion turbines, enabling flexible operation and quick response to variable energy demands.

Other challenges that we have overcome