HOLLAND - Construction activity heated up this summer at the Holland Energy Park, with more than 300 tradespeople on site working to get the baseload generating plant ready for its planned first steam generation this fall.

Led by Barton Malow, the engineering/procurement/construction manager on the project, progress on the 145-megawatt natural gas-fired plant has been moving along nicely. The power plant is the central feature of the energy park, but there's much more: it is set on 26.2 acres of land on the northeast side of the city not far from residential and business areas, and its design will fit it into that neighborhood setting with  ponds, a waterfall, and walking and bike paths. It is seen as an environmentally friendly gateway to the city.

“Our community set out to make the Holland Energy Park a benchmark for sustainable infrastructure development,” said Dave Koster, general manager of the Holland Board of Public Works. “We’re deeply gratified to have earned the Envision Platinum recognition from ISI, because it validates the sustainable, reliable and affordable power generation we’ve built to serve our community for decades to come.”

He refers to the July announcement that the Holland Energy Park will receive the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure’s (ISI) Envision Platinum award, recognizing the sustainability of public infrastructure. Holland Energy Park is the first-in-the-country baseload power generating plant to receive an Envision rating.  Set to replace the aging coal-fired James DeYoung Plant, which began operations in 1939, the Holland Board of Public Works created the Holland Energy Park to be a reliable power resource for the Holland community that is socially, economically and environmentally responsible.

The Envision award rates the sustainability of infrastructure, measuring five categories: Quality of Life, Leadership, Natural World, Resource Allocation, and Climate and Risk. The categories measure the positive social, economic and environmental impacts in a community.

The plant itself, like the handsome Board of Water and Light powerhouse erected in Lansing's Reo Town neighborhood, is not intended to look like a place in which power will be produced. It will have attractive glass, concrete and insulated metal panel skin designed to look good and retain sound.

The $240 million plant will offer:

*A 50 percent reduction in carbon emissions and the virtual elimination of solid particle pollutants.

*Double the fuel efficiency of Holland’s present power generation, which serves about 28,000 customers.

*Open, public space connecting Windmill Island Gardens to the Macatawa Greenway trail system.

*An expansion of Holland’s innovative snowmelt system, which melts snow and ice on downtown sidewalks with a looped hot water system. First installed in the 1980s, it is the largest of its kind in the nation.

*The latest combined-cycle natural gas generating technology, producing up to 145 megawatts of power to meet the needs of a growing community. In a combined-cycle natural gas system, the utility says, two turbines work in tandem to generate electricity. The first—in this case, a natural gas turbine—generates electricity, and exhaust heat from that combustion is used to turn a second turbine, which is typically a steam turbine. This reuse of excess heat provides much more efficient generation than is provided by a natural gas turbine alone.

Natural gas will be brought into the Holland site via a seven-mile-long pipe. Utilizing natural gas as a fuel source will reduce carbon dioxide emissions compared to the DeYoung plant by 50 percent. The plant will also bring about a 66 percent reduction in nitrous oxide emissions and a 99 percent reduction in sulphur dioxide compared to the existing plant.

Construction on the new plant began in March 2016, and substantial completion is expected by the end of this year.

A 3,000-LB. SECTION of steel catwalk that will encircle one of the three stacks is lifted into place in July at the Holland Energy Park Power Plant.

WORKING IN THE CRAMPED confines of a 13,800 KV switchgear installation is Jeff Vandewater of IBEW Local 275. He’s employed by M.J. Electric.