Black & Veatch Preps for 'New Normal' with $3.6 Billion in Delayed Projects

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Where do engineering and construction firms go from here? That's the question facing Black & Veatch Incorporated (Overland Park, Kansas) and other contractors, who now are adjusting their practices on a permanent basis--especially for power-generation projects--as COVID-19 cases hit new highs. Industrial Info is tracking about $3.6 billion worth of projects involving Black & Veatch that are facing delays due to the pandemic; nonetheless, more than half of that is attributed to projects set to begin construction by the end of 2020.

Black & Veatch recently teamed with fellow contractors DPR Construction Incorporated (Redwood City, California), Haskell Company (Jacksonville, Florida) and McCarthy Building Companies (St. Louis, Missouri) to form the "NEXT Coalition," which "seeks to identify and advance processes and technologies most likely to bolster construction safety in response to the "next normal" ushered in by COVID-19." This is one of many recent moves by utility, consulting and contracting firms that are treating the pandemic as a catalyst for a historic shift in operational practices across multiple industries.

Most of Black & Veatch's projects still set to kick off this year are in northern and central Florida, where Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Incorporated (NYSE:NEE) (Juno Beach, Florida), has signed Black & Veatch as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor on more than a dozen renewable power-generation projects. The largest is FPL's $759.5 million Manatee Energy Storage Center in Parrish, Florida, which is being built next to the existing Manatee Solar Farm. It had been expected to kick off in March, but now is set for October. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

The remaining Florida-based projects involving Black & Veatch that are scheduled to begin construction before the end of 2020 are largely for solar power-generation, a market where the Sunshine State has proven to be a leader. They include FPL's:

• $110 million Trailside Solar Energy Center in Hastings; see project report
• $100 million Union Springs Solar Station in Hastings; see project report
• $100 million Putnam County Solar Station in Florahome; see project report
• $80 million Egret Solar Energy Center in Glen Saint Mary; see project report
• $80 million Sabal Palm Solar Station in Loxahatchee; see project report
• $80 million Manatee County Solar Energy Center in Parrish; see project report

For more information on how COVID-19 has affected Florida's solar market, see May 11, 2020, article - Three U.S. States with Biggest Surge in Jobless Claims Have $32 Billion in COVID-Affected Projects, and June 2, 2020, article - IEA: COVID-19 will Slow, not Stop, New-Build Renewable Generation.

Click on the image at right for a map of FPL's renewable-energy projects featuring Black & Veatch's services, all of which are set to begin construction before the end of the year.

Other power-generation projects involving Black & Veatch include site-specific installations for educational and medical institutions. The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor has paused all major energy-related construction projects indefinitely, including two involving Black & Veatch's design-engineering services: an $80 million gas turbine addition and an estimated $23 million switchgear upgrade at the campus' central power plant; the unit addition already was under construction and designed to generate 15 megawatts (MW). For more information, see Industrial Info's project reports on the turbine addition and switchgear upgrade.

The State University of New York's campus in Buffalo has pushed back the construction kickoff for its estimated $35.8 million Niagara Medical Campus microgrid from September to June 2021. Black & Veatch is slated to perform design-engineering work for the project, which would generate 18.9 MW from combined-heat-and-power and renewable sources, such as solar and energy storage. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Outside the U.S., Black & Veatch is serving as technology provider on BP plc (NYSE:BP) (London, England) and Kosmos Energy's (NYSE:KOS) (Dallas, Texas) $1.3 billion Tortue floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project, offshore Mauritania in western Africa. The turret-moored FLNG vessel will have a liquefaction capacity of 2.5 million tons per year and be accompanied by offloading and storage facilities. Construction kicked off in October and was projected to wrap up in November 2022; after the COVID-19 outbreak, BP invoked force majeure in April to delay the project's completion to November 2023. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report..

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com/.