331 South Main Street
Washington, PA 15301
724-228-1900 - Phone
724-228-4311 - Fax
sales@
chapmancorporation.com

“Working As Partners” with the Power Industry

Chapman Corporation has over 30 years of power industry construction experience with utility and non-utility plants throughout the country. Chapman's experience includes various types of generating units: coal-fired, hydroelectric and gas turbine.

Chapman has undertaken projects involving different phases of new plant construction, upgrades or major modifications during planned outages as well as scheduled maintenance or emergency work. We have served as a turnkey construction manager who interfaces closely with the owner, their engineers and power industry consultants who provide highly specialized process design capabilities.

We have been responsible for the demolition, removal, fabrication and installation of civil structures as well as mechanical and electrical equipment for:

• Sampling; Truck and Barge Unloading; Storing; Conveying; Pulverizing; and Blending Systems;
• Generating and Controlling Systems that utilize Boilers, Turbines, Generators, Pumps, Condensers, Heaters, Motor Control Centers, I/O Racks, PC Controllers and Other Electrical Instrumentation, Main Transformers, Switchyards, Switch-gears and Substations;
• Pollution Control Systems such as Flue Gas Desulferization (FGD), Waste Water Treatment, Steam Inerting; Dust Collection; and Associated Electrostatic Precipitators, Scrubbers, Dampers, Baghouses and Cooling Towers; and
• Associated Support Systems such as HVAC, Lighting, Sprinkler, Security, Phone, PA, etc.

Chapman's expertise is in meeting budgets and beating the clock on construction projects during planned outages. The power industry has always associated outage construction with higher costs, but Chapman has proved that this premise is just theory and not fact. We thrive on these challenges while continually providing a safe and quality job.

Outage work is the most intense and demanding of projects because they typically represent hundreds of different jobs involving various trade disciplines. Additionally, many of these tasks must be accomplished in tight working conditions and under exacting time restraints.

The primary advantage that Chapman has to offer in countering these challenges is our experience in outage work. We thoroughly plan all activities so that work progresses in an efficient manner that brings operations back on-line in the shortest possible time frame.

This plan includes a pre-outage schedule that encompasses installation or modification of most conduit, cable, piping, tubing, etc., prior to tie-ins during the planned shutdown. Additionally, we accomplish these intricate projects with no interference with power production prior to the outage. We know that managing outages should not be just day-to-day, but shift-to-shift and even hour-to-hour.

While Chapman has undertaken multimillion dollar startup or modernization projects, the company is organized in such a manner that it has successfully performed smaller maintenance contracts or emergency work. Forms of contracts vary from time and material to fixed price lump sum contracts, but regardless what the size of the project, you can be assured that Chapman will attain your goals.

Substations

The Chapman Corporation has self-performed all construction phases of substation work at greenfield sites or upgraded existing yards for utilities as well as commercial and industrial customers to meet their electrical distribution needs. Substations ranging from 4160 V to 500 kV have been installed throughout the country by Chapman.

Our civil group begins a substation project by clearing the area of trees, removing or adding of earthwork, and grading the site in preparation for construction. They are also responsible for all roadways, seeding and sedimentation control, perimeter security fencing and signage, and stone yard cover.

With the station at final grade, foundations of various dimensions and depths are formed and poured, and anchor bolts set. Chapman's crew would then erect a control house or switch gear building.

Chapman's electrical forces are then deployed for the entire electrical installation of the substation. This stage normally involves establishing the ground grid, and situating all underground control cables and conduits as well as Trenwa systems along with associated trenching, sand, and back filling.

Steel, aluminum and concrete structures are then set on the foundations. Once these structures are in place, Chapman's veteran work force installs designated equipment such as:

• Arresters;
• Air Switches;
• Insulators;
• Welded and Bolted Bus;
• Capacitors; and
• Open Air Wire.

Power transformers of all sizes, including large-scale MVA, are installed, assembled, oil-filled and tested. Internal equipment such as control panels, radio equipment, batteries, lighting, and all other power and control requirements are then assembled.

The primary advantage that Chapman has to offer in countering the challenges of substation work is our experience. We thoroughly plan all activities so that work progresses in an efficient manner. These intricate projects are also accomplished with no interference to operations or power production prior to energizing the station.

Chapman's success with substations can be clearly attributed to maintaining and executing the fundamentals of project management. Planning and detailing of each work item on a schedule together with the ability to adapt to changing conditions are essential ingredients to the early completion of projects as well as the elimination of cost overruns.

GTG Projects
   

Chapman Corporation has completed a number of Gas Turbine Generator (GTG) projects for many customers. These simple and combined cycle gas combustion turbines, manufactured by General Electric and Siemens Westinghouse, generate peaking power for sale into competitive markets.

The initial Chapman project was located on the Allegheny River in Springdale, PA, with Units 1 and 2 going into service in December, 1999. Chapman was responsible for the turn-key civil, mechanical and electrical installation of the two 44 MW GTG’s and associated work. In addition to the GTG’s at Springdale, Chapman was responsible for the installation of a 138/13.8 kV substation which involved the complete assembly and oil fill of two 60MVA transformers; 3-pole disconnect switches; circuit breaker; metering units; surge arresters; insulators; relays; control panels; equipment supports; and steel structures for the switchyard.

Soon after the completion of work at this site, we were offered the opportunity for a three project GTG package with locations in Gans, Chambersburg and Hunlock, PA. The Gans and Chambersburg settings consisted of two generating units while Hunlock had a single gas turbine with substations at each site. While the initial Springdale project was performed on a fixed-price basis, the next three projects utilized a fixed fee/target reimbursable cost approach with a performance incentive.

Chapman kept the same supervisory group intact for these projects in order to develop cost-saving measures through repetitiveness and sound project management based on past experience. By using the same field supervisory team from Springdale, Chapman’s personnel were able to cut back the original 15 week construction schedule to a ten week duration at Gans which “fired-up” for the first time in August of 2000. The projects at Hunlock and Chambersburg were completed later that Fall.

Chapman also completed another two generating units in Buchanan, VA. They went on-line in July of 2002. Other related work involved setting, piping and electrical work on 11 other turbines (10 gas - 1 steam) at four other locations including Armstrong, Pleasants, and Springdale Power Plants. This work exceeded $40 million.