FirstEnergy's Sammis Plant Construction Project Honored by Power Engineering Magazine

AKRON, Ohio, Dec. 15, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- FirstEnergy's (NYSE: FE) environmental retrofit of its W. H. Sammis Plant in Stratton, Ohio, received an honorable mention as part of Power Engineering magazine's project of the year awards announced last night at the POWER-GEN International Conference and Exhibition gala ceremony in Orlando, Florida.  This marks the second time in two weeks that FirstEnergy's five-year, $1.8 billion project was honored with a prestigious industry award.  On December 2, 2010, Platts named the Sammis Plant retrofit as its construction project of the year.

"We are honored to again be recognized for the W. H. Sammis Plant project, one of the largest and most difficult air quality control retrofits in the history of the electric industry," said Gary Leidich, executive vice president and president of FirstEnergy Generation.  "Despite design challenges – particularly severe space limitations due to the Sammis Plant being surrounded by the Ohio River, the Cumberland Lock and Dam, Ohio State Highway Route 7, the Village of Stratton and a railroad line – our incredible team was able to complete the project on time and within the original budget."

The award was shared with Bechtel Power Corporation, the engineering, design, and procurement contractor for the majority of the project and general contractor for the construction work; Babcock & Wilcox for the design and installation of the key components of the project – scrubbers and selective catalytic reduction equipment; and Stantec Consulting Services for providing additional engineering services.

"To be selected as a finalist out of a total of 16 entrants is a feat in and of itself," said Sharryn Dotson, chairwoman, Power Engineering Projects of the Year Awards.  "What made the Sammis project stand out was the amount of emissions expected to be reduced and the limited space available to install the systems.  The people who worked on the project should be very proud of their efforts."

The Sammis Plant retrofit included:

• 15,000 tons of structural steel – enough to build 97 Statues of Liberty
• 52,400 cubic yards of concrete – enough to build a sidewalk from Ohio to Washington, D.C.
• 568 miles of electrical cable – enough to go from the Sammis Plant to Savannah, Georgia

At the peak of the construction, 2,200 tradesmen worked at the Sammis Plant site.  Overall, more than 10 million hours were worked as part of the retrofit project.  During the construction, approximately 15,000 safety sessions and briefings were held which resulted in a lost time incident rate that was greatly below the construction industry average.  In addition, from August 4, 2008, though March 27, 2009, workers logged 2,361,734 consecutive hours on the job site without a lost time injury.

FirstEnergy is a diversified energy company headquartered in Akron, Ohio.  Its subsidiaries and affiliates are involved in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, as well as energy management and other energy-related services.  Its seven electric utility operating companies comprise the nation's fifth largest investor-owned electric system, based on 4.5 million customers served within a 36,100-square-mile area of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey; and its generation subsidiaries control approximately 14,000 megawatts of capacity.

www.firstenergycorp.com

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SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.