BWL begins installing pilings for
foundation of REO Town facility
The Lansing Board of Water & Light this week began installation of more than 900 pilings that will serve as the foundation for its combined-cycle, cogeneration facility in Lansing’s REO Town.
A special method for installing the 919 concrete pilings, called “auger-cast”, will mean dramatically reduced noise levels at the construction site.
“Pile driving is the normal method for installing these foundational pilings,” said General Manager J. Peter Lark. “However, pile driving is a very noisy process. We went with the auger-cast method, which is not only less disruptive to area residents, but actually is less expensive than pile driving.”
The auger-cast process is similar to well drilling, with a vertical hole drilled all the way to bedrock – about 45 feet – followed by insertion of a one-foot-wide concrete column (piling).
Concurrent with the piling installations, work has begun to restore the historic, 108-year-old Grand Trunk Railroad depot at the site. The abandoned depot is on both the
U.S. and Michigan Register of Historic Sites. The depot will be restored and maintained as a meeting place for the BWL’s governing Board of Commissioners, as well as a focal point for REO Town neighborhood groups.
Overall, the project will cost $182 million. It is the BWL’s first natural gas-fired energy generation facility. The BWL will generate up to 100 megawatts of electricity. Additionally, steam will be created in the cogeneration process. The steam will serve the BWL’s 225 steam customers in and near downtown Lansing.
Switching to natural gas will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent, compared to the BWL’s existing coal-fired plant. The coal-fired plant, now more than 50 years old, will be decommissioned once the REO Town facility becomes operational.
The facility is scheduled to open in July 2013. More than 1,000 construction jobs are being created as a result of the project. Once the facility becomes operational, approximately 180 BWL employees will work at the REO Town site.
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