Lake Superior Cogeneration Plant - Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada

Canadian LM 6000 Combined-Cycle Cogeneration Plant. This project represents our second broad-scope mobilization in Canada. Construction was well underway when we became involved. A third-party O&M contractor had actually been selected when one of the partners invited us to discuss the benefits of self-operation. The result was that we were given a charter to implement a free-standing business entity, capable of conducting all of the partnership’s normal business, including power sales and fuels procurement.

 The total team, including all O&M,  management and administrative staff, was 17 persons.  Sterling Energy recruited the entire team, established the initial pay and benefits programs and managed the training program to get them ready for plant operation. Staffing qualifications for this project, as with other projects in Canada and some states within the U.S., were required to be in compliance with mandated qualification licenses for operations personnel. Thus, the team had to include at least one person with certification as a First Class Stationary Engineer, and be designated the Chief Engineer. The lead person on each two man shift had to have a Second Class license as the Shift Engineer under provincial regulations.

Our normal practice is to engage the permanent Plant Manager just before the start of commercial operation. In this case, the Plant Manager, although he was identified well before the plant began operation, could not relocate and assume the position until the plant had been in commercial operation for several weeks. Sterling Energy provided a management professional to act as the Plant Manager, through the startup and this initial commercial operating period. This included directing all of our own scope of activities and directing the new team in the conduct of all of the routine business of the partnership.

We installed a complete suite of management systems, including:  a very comprehensive operating cost and budget management program, the accounting system, detailed management policies, as well as administrative and operating procedures. We also installed a computerized maintenance and materials management program and purchased the initial spare parts inventory and tools for the facility. Sterling Energy also developed the first year’s management plan and a 5 year O&M budget and 20 year major maintenance funding schedules.

Sterling Energy seeks to become an integral part of our client’s organization during an engagement such as this, approaching every aspect of their business that is under our influence as if it were our own. On this project, we became aware of newly created regional and provincial programs to subsidize training costs for employees in this region of Ontario.

Our Project Director, on his own initiative, met with provincial officials and provided extensive documentation to obtain funding, not only for the technical training, but for our team training program as well. He had to demonstrate that the Sterling Energy approach to team building and system sponsorship truly represented innovative management training well beyond what might be considered a normal employee orientation program. The benefit to our client was over $104,000 in subsidies, considerably more than the cost of our on-site manager for the entire mobilization.

Sterling Energy provided a number of services including:

Mobilization Services

• Team structure & culture
• Recruiting and staffing
• Training program management
• Initial Plant Manager
• System Sponsor Program
• Operating procedures
• Maintenance program setup
• Tools and spare parts purchasing

Business Entity Initiation

• Local pay & benefit selection
• Accounting setup and training
• Revenue & expense modeling
• Management policies
• Business plan & budget preparation

 

Plant Location:

     Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Commercial Operation Start:

     December 1994

Plant Description:

     110 MW Combined-Cycle

     Two GE LM6000 Packages

     One GE Steam Turbine

Operating Company:

     Lake Superior Power

Owners:

     West Coast Power

     Great Lakes Power

EPC Prime Contractor:

     Nicholls-Radtke