• Hyperbolic natural draft cooling towers will help Massachusetts's Brayton Point Power Station reduce its water usage and comply with EPA mandate
CHARLOTTE, NC, July 27, 2009 -- SPX Corporation announced that its Thermal Equipment and Services segment has been awarded a contract in excess of $30 million to design two natural draft cooling towers, including the design, manufacturing and installation of the towers' internal heat transfer system, for Dominion Generation-owned Brayton Point Power Station in Somerset, Massachusetts.
In 2003, the U.S. EPA and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts issued a new permit for Brayton Point that set strict limits for the facility's withdrawal of cooling water from, and its discharges of heated wastewater to, nearby Mount Hope Bay. The new cooling system will be designed to reduce the amount of water drawn from Mount Hope Bay to cool the plant's four generating units and help the plant meet the EPA's new mandate.
SPX's contract was secured from privately-held Kiewit Corporation. Plans call for Kiewit to finish building the tower shells and SPX to complete the installation of the internal wet cooling system. The Brayton Point Power Station's new cooling system will feature the first natural draft cooling towers constructed in the U.S. in more than 14 years.
"Brayton Point's new cooling system is designed to deliver numerous benefits beyond sharply reducing its water intake and achieving EPA compliance," said Drew Ladau, SPX segment president.
With a capacity of 1,600 mega-watts, Brayton Point Power Station is New England's largest coal-powered generating station, supplying approximately 16 percent of the electricity used in Massachusetts and eight percent of the electricity needs of New England.
SPX's Thermal Equipment and Services segment is a leading provider of wet, dry and hybrid cooling towers, heat exchanges, air and flue gas systems and filter systems, utilized by thousands of power stations and plants in more than 60 countries across six continents. The segment's broad offering enables the maintaining, refurbishing, upgrading and modernizing of power stations, and includes a wide range of aftermarket services and solutions. With more than 100 years experience designing and constructing natural draft cooling towers up to 655 feet in height, SPX has more than 275 natural draft concrete hyperbolic cooling towers installed and operating worldwide.
SPX Corporation is focused on providing solutions that support the expansion of global infrastructure, with particular emphasis on the growing worldwide demand for energy and power.
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