BWL REO Town Plant Project Wins 2013 Best Energy/Industrial Project Award

BWL REO Town Plant Project Wins 2013 Best Energy/Industrial Project Award

The Lansing Board of Water and Light (BWL) new REO Town Headquarters and Cogeneration Facility has been awarded ENR (Engineering News-Record) Midwest's 2013 Best Project of the Year in the category of Industrial/Energy. Awards were presented at a special ceremony in Chicago on Friday, November 22, 2013. The project is also profiled in the November 18 edition of ENR Midwest.

From scores of entries, a panel of industry professionals selected winning projects on the basis of five criteria, including quality, innovation, safety, contributions to the surrounding community, and the ability of the project teams to overcome unique challenges.  Among the project team members who are honored with the award are owner BWL, engineering and design firm Burns and Roe Group, Inc., construction manager The Christman Company, and owner's representative Kramer Management Group.

"The prestigious ENR award reinforces the top-notch team we assembled to build our REO Town project on time and on budget," said BWL General Manager J. Peter Lark. "It also recognizes the outstanding design and construction effort that built the cleanest and most efficient power plant in the country."

The $182-million facility is the first new utility power plant constructed in Michigan in 25 years and the first constructed by BWL in 40 years. The facility deploys natural gas to generate steam and electricity via a two-step process, beginning when a turbine burns natural gas to directly turn an electric generator. Compared with an existing coal-fired steam plant, BWL slashed greenhouse emissions by 50%, mercury and sulfur dioxide emissions by nearly 100% and oxides of nitrogen by more than 85%. Use of natural gas also allowed BWL to avoid burning 351,000 tons of coal a year.

A related "project within the project" restored the 111-year-old Grand Trunk Western Railroad depot located on the property.

The project has now gone on to compete against winners from other U.S. regions in ENR's National Best of the Best Projects 2013 Competition. For more information on ENR, visit enr.construction.com. For more information about ENR Midwest, including the article about BWL REO Town Plant, visit:

http://midwest.construction.com/midwest_construction_projects/2013/1118-best-energyindustrial-project-reo-town-headquarters-and-cogeneration-facility.asp

For more information about BWL, visit www.lbwl.com

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