Background
The State Line power plant in the Northern most tip of Indiana was in the Chicago metroplex and sat on 80 acres of reclaimed land on Lake Michigan. The coal plant was built in the early 1900’s and for a time was the largest power plant in the world. It was upgraded over the years and eventually became a two-unit 600 MW pulverized coal facility. The plant was acquired by Dominion Power in 2005 and eventually shut down due to weak market demand and substantial emissions upgrade requirements. In addition to the onsite substation that is now owned by ComEd, there was also a coal pile, ash ponds and a once through freshwater cooling system taking water from Lake Michigan.
Project Execution
GENOVER acquired the site from Dominion in 2012 and began project execution immediately. This project required a high level of coordination with ComEd because of the many integrated systems that needed to be separated in order to shut the facility down permanently. These included battery backup systems, SCADA systems for the substation and temporary removal of a 330 KV ComEd distribution line in order to drop a large conveyor built that spanned over the top of the HV line. Northern Indiana Utility Company (NIPSCO) also had assets and controls on site. All of these tasks were completed without any unplanned outages or surprises for either utility or for the site. GENOVER also oversaw the numerous municipal relationships since the plant received certain services from the City of Chicago and others from Hammond, IN.
Once the technical portion of the project was complete, then the traditional remediation and demolition was completed.
Throughout the project, due to the high-profile nature of this project location, Dominion remained involved even though they no longer had ownership of the property. This assured that the legacy association with the plant would be well managed.
Timeline
The project was complete in 14 months. Redevelopment
The site was sold to a local lakefront industrial company that provided storage and handling of different materials for energy and aggregate companies that ship by barge.
