Skelly and Loy participates in Tenaska generating station groundbreaking

Harrisburg, Pa. — On August 24, 2016, Skelly and Loy attended the Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Tenaska Pennsylvania Partners’ Tenaska Westmoreland Generating Station situated just outside Smithton in South Huntingdon Township, Westmoreland County, Pa. The plant will operate two state-of-the-art natural gas-fueled turbines to produce 925 megawatts of electricity for the PJM Interconnection grid that serves Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and all or parts of 10 other states and the District of Columbia. The plant, which will capitalize on the region’s availability of natural gas, is projected for completion in 2018.

“We would really like to congratulate Tenaska on its success with taking such a complex project from concept to reality”, said Frank Gally, P.E., Director of Civil Engineering at Skelly and Loy. “It has been an incredible experience for us to work alongside so many wonderful, committed, and talented people at Tenaska to reach this milestone. It has been both memorable and rewarding to play such a key role in the design and development of such a remarkable project.”

Skelly and Loy provided many engineering design and environmental permitting services for the project over the course of the last seven years, from concept design and siting through final permit approvals. Services completed included surveying; mining evaluations for subsidence prevention; design and permitting of land development, post-construction stormwater management, and erosion and sediment control plans; NPDES permitting; wetlands identification and delineation; threatened and endangered species investigations and clearances; archaeological resources investigations and clearances; and sewage planning approval.

“There aren’t too many projects that provide the opportunity to use so many tools from your toolbox. This project was one of them, which added to its overall uniqueness and our gratification with the final result – this impressive generating station.” said Gally.