Fairless Power Plant

Producing enough power to supply nearly 300,000 homes.

The Fairless Power Plant is a crucial electricity provider in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania. The plant became fully operational in 2004 and is owned by Dominion Energy (DE), who sells its output to the regional and national grid. This 1200 MW combined cycle station burns natural gas fuel using four GE Frame 7FA gas turbines, two GED D-11 steam turbines, and four duct-fired heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) equipped with Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) for NOx reduction to single-digit levels.

Conti self-performed logistically challenging excavation and construction of the civil foundations for all buildings of this new power plant. The project involved extensive pile driving operations, for which Conti used state-of-the-art pile driving equipment and was able to self-perform all production work.

The project included installation of steel pipe piles. Prior to installation, the team poured structural pile concrete and installed reinforcing steel pipe cages to support the piles. Due to conflicts with underground utility locations, the team pre-augured piles and performed Pile Driver Analysis (PDA) tests, including compression and lateral load tests, to confirm that piles were driven properly for the structural stability of the building foundations. Drive-fit splices for the steel pipe piles where in excess of 88 feet.

Conti’s efforts and advanced project scheduling techniques enabled the team to complete the work to specifications in just nine months.

Conti used state-of-the-art pile driving equipment and self-performed all production work for this project.