PEARSALL, Texas — South Texas Electric Cooperative (STEC), a nonprofit electric cooperative, selected Burns & McDonnell to provide engineering, permitting and construction management for the expansion of Pearsall Power Plant.

Located on a brownfield site approximately 50 miles southwest of San Antonio, the $200 million-plus Pearsall Power Plant expansion will provide up to 202 megawatts (MW) of natural gas power in 8.4-MW increments as needed for cooperative members’ electricity demands. Construction is expected to commence in late 2008 or early 2009 with completion in mid-2010.

Burns & McDonnell will be engineering the placement of 24 Wärtsilä 20V34SG natural gas-fired engines and the balance of plant equipment. Each engine — chosen for its low heat rate, low emissions and efficiency — provides 8.4 MW of power, allowing STEC to use only the engines needed to meet its cooperative members’ demand, making the plant more energy efficient and reducing electricity costs for STEC members. Burns & McDonnell will also be leading permitting efforts, which involve air dispersion modeling and working with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. In addition, the firm will administer construction management for all aspects of the expansion project.

Pearsall Power Plant will be the first to use Wärtsilä engines in Texas, and the expansion is Wärtsilä’s single largest project in the U.S. This is the second Burns & McDonnell project utilizing Wärtsilä natural gas-fired engines; the first is a 76-MW Midwest Energy peaking power facility under construction near Hays, Kan.

Burns & McDonnell also engineered, procured and constructed STEC’s Sam Rayburn combined cycle project in Nursery, Texas.

STEC, headquartered in Nursery, Texas, serves through its eight distribution cooperatives more than 170,000 members in 65 southern Texas counties. The electric cooperative has 182 employees, based at two generating plants in southern Texas — Sam Rayburn and Pearsall.