Firms Announce Big Project Awards

March 26, 2010
While the overall electrical construction market is by all accounts still in the early stages of recovery, in the past two weeks several electrical distributors, electrical manufacturers and electrical contractors announced that they had won sizeable new contracts

While the overall electrical construction market is by all accounts still in the early stages of recovery, in the past two weeks several electrical distributors, electrical manufacturers and electrical contractors announced that they had won sizeable new contracts. Following are summaries of these jobs.

Border States wins integrated supply contract with Wisconsin utility. Border States Electric, Fargo, N.D., has been awarded an integrated supply contract to support We Energies’ requirements for electrical distribution, wire, cable and select maintenance, repair, and operation (MRO) materials. BSE’s branches in Pewaukee and Green Bay, Wis., and Kingsford, Mich., will service the contract. We Energies is a multi-faceted utility that provides natural gas, electricity, steam and water services in portions of Wisconsin and Michigan.

EMCOR Government Services division nabs contract with U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The EMCOR Government Services unit won a contract from the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing for its Western Currency Facility located in Fort Worth, Texas. EMCOR Government Services (EGS) will be responsible for 24/7 support of the underlying infrastructure at the facility, including its fire and life safety system, building automation system, central chiller plant, water treatment, UPS systems, generators and vertical transportation. EGS will also oversee several unique industrial systems, such as industrial shredders, compressed air systems and vacuum systems.

The Western Currency Facility’s printing presses account for more than half of the paper currency printed in the United States. In January 2010 the facility printed approximately $2.6 billion dollars in $1 and $20 dollar denominations.

Siemens signs contract with Navy to provide metering equipment. Siemens Industry Inc., Atlanta, will provide power metering equipment and services for the U.S. Navy’s Southwest Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) project by teaming with American Systems, Chantilly, Va., a provider of systems engineering and managed services to government customers.

The contract to furnish and install advanced electrical metering infrastructure at various locations throughout the Navy’s Southwest Region is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). Siemens is supplying advanced electrical power meters, its

WinPM.Net energy monitoring software, and engineering services. Siemens also received orders for project management services along with gas, water and steam flow meters that provide data to the WinPM.Net systems.

Siemens teams up with Metrus Engineering on energy retrofit for BAE Systems. Another Siemens division, the Siemens Building Technologies unit based in Buffalo Grove, Ill., teamed up with Metrus Energy Inc., San Francisco, on project with BAE Systems, a leader in the defense industry, to make its facility in Merrimack, N.H., more energy efficient.

Under the deal’s pay-for-performance structure, BAE Systems only pays for the actual energy savings realized from the program’s comprehensive energy efficiency improvements, while immediately experiencing the environmental, operational and bottom-line benefits.

BAE Systems expects the program to save more than $200,000 annually in utility expenses. Siemens will generate energy savings through various energy-efficient retrofits and upgrades, including a new compressor, building automation system improvements, a complete lighting retrofit, new transformers and comprehensive campus energy policy.

“We’re addressing a large but vastly underserved market,” said Bob Hinkle, CEO, Metrus. “The majority of energy efficiency services, programs and financing options largely have been limited to the government and public sector. The ESA specifically targets projects at private industrial and commercial facilities enabling these types of businesses to pay for retrofits through realized energy savings.”

ABB wins $30 million order for PV power plant in Spain. A posting on the website of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), Rosslyn, VA., said ABB won a $30 million order from GA Solar, part of Gestamp Corp., to deliver a 13MW photovoltaic (PV) power plant in northern Spain. ABB will be responsible for the design, engineering, erection, civil works and commissioning of the plant, and will supply all the electrical equipment required to connect the plant to the grid, including medium- and low-voltage switchgear, transformers and a medium-voltage substation.

Eaton to work with U.S. Postal Service on retrofit projects. Eaton Corp., Cleveland, has secured an Indefinite Job Order Contract from the United States Postal Service (USPS) Eastern Facilities Service Office (EFSO) for energy conservation projects at postal facilities in North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. The scope of this initiative includes energy engineering, audits and implementation of energy conservation opportunities including lighting retrofits, lighting controls, minor heating, ventilating and air conditioning improvements, and compressed air systems improvements.

This contract is one of several recent agreements that Eaton has reached with government organizations, including $8 million in electrical products and services for the San Antonio Military Medical Center on the Fort Sam Houston Army base in Texas and supplying hybrid electric power systems for 35 fuel-efficient shuttle buses purchased by the U.S. General Services Administration for use on U.S. military bases.