Westar Energy Begins Construction of $330 Million Power Project In Kansas

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). Westar Energy Incorporated (NYSE:WR ) (Topeka, Kansas), has started construction of the $330 million 600-megawatt Emporia Energy Center located in Emporia, Kansas.

Construction on the project started earlier this month and is scheduled for full commercial start-up during the summer of 2008. The project will consist of four 45-megawatt GE Power Systems LM6000 SPRINT combustion turbines and three 150 Megawatt MS7001FA combustion turbine generators. Emporia will operate in a simple cycle peaking mode and will be the first power project Westar Energy has built in five years. The natural gas-fired plant is designed to begin generating power quickly, so it can be used during the summer and winter months when energy demands are at their highest. Once operational, the facility will have an initial nameplate capacity of 300 megawatts. An additional 300 megawatts will be added by the summer of 2009.

Black and Veatch Corporation (BV) of Kansas City, Missouri will provide the turnkey E+P+C (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) services for the project. Overland Contracting Incorporated (OCI) located in Overland Park, Kansas, a subsidiary of Black & Veatch, will act as the general contractors.

View Plant Profile – 1070511

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) provides marketing communication services ranging from industrial database solutions to market forecasting, custom analytics, and specialty promotions that support high-level image campaigns.