Caribbean Utilities Company (CUC) engaged K&M to provide advisory services for developing a balance of plant (BOP) scope for the final dual fuel conversion for Engine Room 5. Under this assignment, K&M will review the proposals submitted by MAN and BWSC for the dual-fuel conversion of Engine Room 5 and develop a final project scope and price (if applicable) to enable CUC to solicit bids. K&M will begin by reviewing MAN’s proposal and their scope of services matrix, followed by an evaluation of the scope described in the BWSC proposal. K&M will then develop a comprehensive list of systems and BOP (Balance of Plant) equipment items required for the conversion to gas. Next, K&M will compare the BWSC proposed scope to MAN’s scope matrix and the internally developed list to identify any gaps or additional work that may be necessary. The team will also review the mechanical and technical specifications, provide detailed comments, and prepare a list of clarification questions for BWSC, MAN, and CUC as needed. Following this, K&M will evaluate the responses to these clarifications and incorporate the findings into the scope matrix and, if required, into the total price proposed by BWSC. Finally, K&M will prepare a detailed report summarizing the activities performed, presenting the final project scope and price (if applicable). This report will provide CUC with the necessary information to solicit bids for the project and evaluate those bids against the indicative benchmark pricing.

K&M understands that from the beginning of the commercial operation, Phase IV Add-on Combined Cycle feedwater pumps experienced high vibration issues and that these issues are not fully resolved despite remedial measures undertaken by SEPCO3, the EPC Contractor, and SEPCO. Specifically, one of the pumps, pump C, still experiences high vibration.

On March 8, 2024, SEPCO issued a request for K&M to provide a quote for performing additional analysis of the feedwater pump operating issues and to provide recommendations on a path forward.

In response, K&M has outlined a three-task approach:

Task 1: Assess Vibration Characteristics and Analyze Vibration Data for Phase IV BFWP Motors

K&M will analyze the vibration characteristics and vibration data for the Phase IV BFWP motors that SEPCO has seen during the commissioning and operation of the plant. The analysis will consist of a review of all relevant documentation and operating data for the BWFP motor and pump assembly as compared to applicable international standards for rotating equipment operation and OEM standards. The data required for a thorough analysis of the issue can be seen in Section 5.3.

Task 2: Provide Recommendations to Resolve Underlying Issues and Mitigate Vibration-Related Levels and Concerns

Based on the information received and analysis performed for Task 1, K&M will provide recommendations for any remedial action or analysis to be performed that has not previously been implemented by SEPCO. The action may consist of running specific test scenarios for additional data points or may require physical intervention.

Task 3: Offer Guidance on Necessary or Recommended Mechanical Measures to Live with the Current Situation of the vibration issue on Phase IV BFWP Motors.

If it is determined that the vibration issues cannot be resolved, a secondary option would be to optimize how SEPCO operates the plant with Pump A having excessive vibration for the life of the plant. K&M will provide recommendations for plant operation configurations, such as, for example, having Pump A on standby or limiting its operation to certain maximum number of running hours per year to prolong the life of the bearings and rotor of its motor; scheduling pump maintenance at the time of gas turbine outage to minimize pump impact on the overall unit availability, conducting regular inspections of pump A motor bearings and preventive  bearing replacement to minimize the possibility of pump forced outage due to bearing damage, etc.

Deliverable:

Feedwater Pump Vibration Analysis and Operation Recommendation Report

NV GEBE, the integrated Sint Maarten power utility responsible for generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity on the Dutch part of the island, experienced outage of several generating units, which created power shortages and required rolling blackouts on Sint Maarten. NV GEBE intended to resolve this issue in the near term by procuring 20 MW of emergency power and engaged K&M to prepare a Request for Proposal (RFP) for that procurement. K&M studied the power plant supply arrangements at Sint Maarten, assisted the client in selecting the project site, and developed an RFP, including instructions to bidders, evaluation methodology, and technical specification, which included technical requirements and detailed description of project interfaces, K&M was able to prepare the RFP within 2 weeks of the project award.

NV GEBE experienced outage of several generating units, which created power shortages and required rolling blackouts on Sint Maarten. NV GEBE intended to resolve this issue in the near term by procuring 20 MW of emergency power and engaged K&M to prepare a Request for Proposal (RFP) for that procurement. K&M studied the power plant supply arrangements at Sint Maarten, assisted the client in selecting the project site, and developed an RFP, including instructions to bidders, evaluation methodology, and technical specification, which included technical requirements and detailed description of project interfaces, K&M was able to prepare the RFP within 2 weeks of the project award.

K&M was retained by the Tampa Energy Corporation to structure a privately financed 56 million gallon per year ethanol facility and associated 80 MW bagasse-fired cogeneration plant in the Dominican Republic, which would sell surplus electricity to the electric grid. In addition, K&M had the overall technical and project management responsibility for this project. K&M assisted Tampa Energy in the funding, design, feasibility and engineering studies, equipment and machinery supply contracts, and the supervision of the construction of the production facility.

K&M served as technical consultant to the Egyptian Ministry of Supply under a multi services contract on behalf of the Egyptian Electricity Authority and US Agency for International Development (USAID). K&M completed a design review, provided construction management and start-up services for a 3 x 3 MW diesel generating station located in southern Egypt on the Red Sea.

K&M was retained by Infilco to perform an evaluation of proposals for conformance to specifications regarding instrumentation and control requirements, on behalf of Infilico Degermont Co., for water treatment plant systems for the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt’s Ministry of Electricity. The tender specification required provision of an advanced central distributed control system capable of simultaneously monitoring and controlling a raw water pretreatment system, a chlorination plant, demineralizer plant, waste water treatment plant, and controls from the pump house and water intake area.

Puerto Chiquito Diesel Station, Dominican Republic. K&M performed a feasibility study for a group of private investors in the Dominican Republic on the installation of a diesel generating system. The diesel plant provided power to a major tourist complex developed by the same owners. K&M also arranged U.S. Export-Import Bank financing for equipment services of U.S. origin. This World Bank funded project served as a model for a much larger privatization undertaking in the 10-15 MW range.

K&M served as project developer, technical consultant and owner’s engineer for the 100 MW Mamonal project. As such, K&M’s involvement in Latin America’s first-ever privately financed non-recourse Independent Power Project (IPP) encompassed a broad range of advisory services. K&M developed this pioneering project on a Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) basis and structured the transaction to achieve financial close within a period of only 7 months. K&M worked with the government to develop and reorganize the commercial, regulatory, legal and securities framework to allow for private investment. The Mamonal plant sells electricity to both private industries and the national grid, thus the project structure required negotiation of a full range of issues related to market-oriented operation in the energy sector, including wholesale and retail tariff models and methodologies, fuel supply transportation and pricing, and spot market system.
K&M developed risk mitigation arrangements, which included the implementation agreements, long-term lease agreement, and the sales agreements to private and public clients. K&M worked with the various government entities and local partners involved to negotiate the complete terms of the transaction including: fair tariff wheeling arrangements (the first in Colombia); EPC construction contract which included procurement procedures; Power Purchase Agreement (PPA); Security Package agreements; and non-recourse financial agreements.
Mamonal’s success was covered extensively in the trade media. It was recognized as “Deal of the Year” in 1994 by Project Finance International Yearbook and “One of the Ten Most Creative Deals” of 1993 by Infrastructure Finance. The contractual guarantees, risk allocation concepts and the incentive structure of the Mamonal transaction, as conceived and negotiated by K&M, are now being used as a model worldwide. The $100 million facility consists of a 100 MW (ISO) natural gas-fired combined cycle power plant in a steam-augmented mode. The power island includes two General Electric LM 5000 steam injected gas turbines (STIG) and two heat recovery boilers (HRSG). It connects to the grid through a 69 kV switchyard and 1 km 69 kV transmission line. Status: Commercial operation 1994.

K&M served as Owner’s Engineer to the Egyptian Electricity Authority for the engineering design, procurement and construction supervision of Egypt’s first subscriber fiber-optic carrier loop system. This project provided a short-term reliable telecommunications link between Cairo and the 1,200 MW El-Kureimat Power Station under construction 100 kilometers south of Cairo.

K&M served as Owner’s Engineer to the Egyptian Electricity Authority providing engineering design, procurement, and construction management for its 1,200 MW (2×600) El-Kureimat Power Project near Cairo. It was the first 600 MW unit in Egypt and the largest gas/oil-fired plant in North Africa, providing 20% of the country’s power. The plant was designed and built under a co-financing structure involving multilateral and bilateral development banks and funding agencies. This project was constructed using a multi-package financing concept developed by K&M utilizing funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), World Bank, African Development Bank, Arab Fund for Social & Economic Development, and other lending institutions.
K&M coordinated the project development, funding, and loan aspects to ensure overall financing optimization of the project. K&M’s innovative approach to implementing projects, and its thorough understanding of linkage of multi-source funding, project packaging, and procurement, saved the EEA over $350 million from the original project budget. K&M enhanced and improved the contract packaging by matching the sources of project funds with the proper scope of work items, thereby having timely procurements in step with construction scheduling. K&M, in association with Raytheon/EBASCO Overseas Corp., provided technical, procurement, project and construction management services for 7 of the 18 contract packages for this project valued at over $250 million. K&M also provided customs clearance support in Egypt for all 18 of the contract packages representing over $420 million in equipment and spare parts.
The project was performed in two phases. Phase I included preliminary engineering and procurement of prime contract packages for the civil, architectural and engineering works including the plant boilers, pumps and drives, the water and wastewater treatment systems, the switchyard and the electrical distribution equipment, control room simulators, and insurance, etc. Phase II included all post-contractual duties such as design review of the detailed engineering performed by the contractors, construction management, training programs and assistance in startup, testing, commissioning and initial operations. The project was commissioned in 1998.