Palomar Energy Center

The Kiewit team was awarded the contract to engineer, procure, construct and startup the 554-megawatt combined cycle power plant with two GE 7FA combustion turbines, a GE D11 steam turbine with downflow exhaust, a Nooter/Eriksen heat recovery steam generator and a seven cell cooling tower. This natural gas-fired plant produces 45 percent more energy while using the same amount of natural gas as older plants. 

A major challenge to the project was the site location — an extremely rocky portion of land in the heart of an urban community. Six million tons of granite were blasted and shaped to allow the power plant and numerous other busi- nesses to form a business development park. Visual screening was achieved through excavations up to 70 feet deep to lower foundations, shorter stacks and additional screen walls added to the top of the plant to create a look similar to local commercial buildings. Special lighting design and noise attenuation measures also helped the plant blend into the community.