Southern Industrial Constructors / Southern Crane and D.H. Griffin recently completed the dismantling of an out-of-service electricity plant and relocating it to Guatemala.
The scope of the job not only included dismantling two General Electric turbines and four high-pressure steam boilers ¨C complete with emission systems and coal handling systems ¨C but also demolishing the building complex that housed the power plant.
Southern Industrial and D.H. Griffin performed the $12-million job as a joint venture. Southern Industrial- and Southern Crane-owned equipment used on the project were a Terex T560 60-ton truck crane, a Grove TMS900E 90-ton truck crane and a GMK5120B 120-ton all-terrain crane.
The 80-megawatt GE coal-fired power plant previously fueled an R.J. Reynolds cigarette manufacturing facility in Tobaccoville, N.C. Southern Industrial originally installed the power source for the company in 1985.
"This still-productive power system could have just rusted to pieces, which would have been a shameful waste of valuable resources," said Rocky Springer, vice president of Southern Industrial.
"We were excited that the plant could be put to good use somewhere else."
Southern Industrial and D.H. Griffin were contracted to dismantle the electricity plant and the facility in which it was housed, and then ship the plant overseas to Guatemala. Project work began in May 2008 and will wrap up this month.
"Southern Industrial and D.H. Griffin share a commitment for placing safety first and performing high quality, professional work," said Earl Johnson Jr., chairman of Southern Industrial. "Tobaccoville is a perfect example of a job that tapped our companies¡¯ respective strengths."
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