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POWER GENERATION BY MIKE MERCER

and load-following plant depending on

what the power requirements are from
Northwestern,” said Clive Nickolay,
global business development manager,
CPGS. “It was originally designed to be
a load-following plant and make up the
difference as the wind assets on the
eastern side of the state fluctuated.
However, this summer when the tem-
peratures were so high in that part of
the country, the plant was called upon
to be a peaking plant and add capacity
to the grid to make up for the extra
power demands.”
Caterpillar was specified by the
Montana Public Service Commission
for the engineering, procurement and
construction contract, as well as the
Capterpillar Power Generation Services (CPGS) provided a 51.8 MW, natural gas-fueled peaking operations and maintenance contract.
plant on a US$28.5 million turnkey engineering, procurement and construction contract to Basin “The Basin Creek Project is, to date,
Creek Power Services LLC. The plant is located near Butte, Montana, U.S.A., and is also covered the largest Caterpillar Power Gen-
by a US$25.2 million, 20-year operation and maintenance contract. eration Systems, gas-fired, medium-
speed power plant in the world and is
the first project in Montana in 20 years
that has received explicit commission

Power for a Calm Day approval,” said Jim Williams of Basin

Creek Equity Partners LLC.
According to Caterpillar, this is also
Nine Caterpillar 16GCM34 natural gas gen-sets provide the third largest, medium-speed, gas
backup for utility’s wind power assets engine-driven power plant in the
United States. With the plant, Cater-
pillar provided a guarantee on sched-
If the wind decides not to blow in Montana, customers of Northwestern Energy ule, heat rate, emissions levels and
can rest easy knowing electricity needs for the region will be covered by a 51.8 MW power output of the plant.
natural gas-fired, load-following plant, constructed on a green field site near the city The facility was designed and built
of Butte, Montana, U.S.A. for Basin Creek Power Services LLC
With an eye toward providing cost-effective electric power for its customers at and went from concept to commercial
maximum efficiency with minimal environmental impact, Northwestern Energy operation in nine months. Caterpillar
worked together with Basin Creek Power Services LLC and Caterpillar Power provided the project management,
Generation Systems (CPGS) on a turnkey EPC contract valued at US$28.5 million plant systems design and engineering,
to design, construct and commission the Basin Creek power plant. The plant is also and will provide full operation and
covered by a US$25.2 million, 20-year operation and maintenance contract. In maintenance services to the plant.
addition, Basin Creek agreed to provide electricity under a 20-year capacity and “Once all of the regulatory approvals
energy sales agreement to Northwestern Energy, the public utility for the state of and the financial arrangements were
Montana, as well as parts of the states of South Dakota and Nebraska. completed, the project went very quick-
Power from the plant provides reserve capacity to the Montana electric power ly,” said Nickolay. “This is about as
grid and will also play an important part in supporting the new wind energy quick as a plant can be constructed. Part
resources being implemented in Montana. The flexible nature of the remotely of the reason we were able to supply the
monitored plant allows the asset to be dispatched and used for wind energy instal- plant so quickly was that so much time
lations. The plant has full-time, on-site staff that control its operation, or this can was spent on the front-end planning of
also be done remotely by Northwestern. the project, working out the details.”
Wind, by nature, is a constantly varying energy resource that requires the dispatch- Basin Creek includes nine Cater-
ing agent, in this case Northwestern Energy, to have an alternate source of power to pillar 16GCM34 generator sets each
meet the system load requirements. Without the Basin Creek facility, Montana con- producing 5.75 MWe at 60 Hz. Each
sumers would be exposed to market power prices for much of the wind capacity. generator set consists of a turbo-
“The plant is really kind of unique in that it can, and has been, used as a peaking charged and after-cooled, 16-cylinder,
O c t o b e r 2 0 0 7 Diesel & Gas Turbine Worldwide
WW219.qxp 10/9/07 9:18 AM Page 3
POWER GENERATION
A view of the engine hall shows the nine Caterpillar 16GCM34 generator sets each produc-
ing 5.75 MWe at 60 Hz. Each generator set consists of a turbocharged and after-cooled, 16-
cylinder, Vee-configuration, G16CM34 lean-burn engine connected to a Leroy-Somer generator.
The plant is designed to be started and ramped up to full load in less than 10 minutes.
Vee-configuration, G16CM34 lean-
burn engine manufactured by Cater-
pillar Motoren GmbH & Co. KG, in
Kiel, Germany, connected to Leroy-
Somer generators. The generator sets
are designed to be started and ramped
up to full load in less than 10 minutes
to meet peaking demands. These
engines are currently the largest gas-
fired reciprocating offering in the
Caterpillar portfolio.
Each engine at the CPGS-supplied
power plant includes an engine skid-
mounted Caterpillar electronic control
and monitoring system that controls
fuel, ignition and other engine func-
tions, as well as supplying information
to the overall power plant monitoring
system. The engines include dual ABB
turbochargers and exhaust systems
with both silencers and oxidation cata-
lysts. It should be noted that these cat-
alysts were sufficient to keep the plant
within emissions regulations parame-
ters and no SCR system was necessary.
The exhaust system also includes
burst discs designed to protect the
silencers and catalysts from damage in
the event of a backfire. Thermal insula-
tion wrap is also used to increase effi-
ciency, cut down on ambient heat radi-
ation into the engine hall and protect
plant personnel from hot surfaces.
The engine uses a two-stage, jacket
water cooling system with radiators
located outside of the building. The
system is designed with the flexibility
required for the geographical location,
which is at an altitude of 1690 m and
can include outside ambient operating
temperature extremes ranging from
–43° to 35°C. Each engine’s lube oil
cooling system, which is integrated into
the two-stage jacket water cooling sys-
tem, includes a skid-mounted GEA
Westfalia plate heat exchanger.
The building includes a noise attenu-
ation system designed into the structure.
Basin Creek Power Partners, the proj-
ect sponsor and developer, includes
four entrepreneurs who were the force
behind the project. Jim Williams is the
president of the group and is a former
Montana Power and Continental
Energy employee. As such, Jim has
extensive experience in the power
industry including holding the position
of president of Continental Energy. The
other partners include Neil Gibson,
Doug Peoples and Karen Holland.
Northwestern Energy, headquar-
tered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota,
U.S.A., is an investor-owned utility
and one of the largest providers of elec-
tricity and natural gas in the northwest
quadrant of the United States. Its elec-
Diesel & Gas Turbine Worldwide O c t o b e r 2 0 0 7
tric and natural gas operations serve
customers in Montana, South Dakota
and Nebraska.
In Montana, the electric service
includes 310 000 customers in 187
communities with the customer base
split into 32% residential, 47% com-
mercial and industrial and 21% other.
The utility has 43 613 km of transmis-
sion and distribution lines that cover
approximately 278 683 km2. The gas
service in Montana includes 166 000
customers in 105 communities, with
5794 km of distribution gas mains,
3219 km of transmission pipelines and
the capability of 16 bcf of gas storage.
Maxim Power Corp., an equity in-
vestor in the project, is an independent
power producer with the mission of
enhancing shareholder and customer
value by acquiring or developing, own-
ing and operating innovative and envi-
ronmentally responsible electric and
thermal energy projects. Through
Jupiter Power Holdings (JPH), a joint
venture with Caterpillar Power Ven-
tures International Ltd. in which Maxim
owns 51%, Maxim is involved in the
ownership and operation of electric
power generation plants and the corre-
sponding sale of power in the Kingdom
of Cambodia.
In addition, Maxim holds interests in
eight projects in Canada, including joint
ventures with Finning, Canadian Cater-
pillar dealer, and seven projects in
Europe. These projects include landfill
and cogeneration applications.
CTI Group, the lender for the proj-
ect, provided a US$40 million con-
struction loan and a US$30 million,
20-year permanent loan. The compa-
ny, with principal offices located in
Livingston, New Jersey, U.S.A., and
New York City, was founded in 1908
and has nearly US$50 billion in assets.
The company was involved because it
possessed the financial resources, in-
dustry expertise and product knowl-
edge to serve the needs of the project.
The company includes offices through-
out North America and offices in
Europe, Latin America, South America
and the Pacific Rim. A
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