Florida Power & Light’s (FPL) 45-year-old Cape Canaveral Power Plant next to the Kennedy Space Center was demolished in August 2010 to make way for the Cape Canaveral Next Generation Clean Energy Center. The Clean Energy Center will use natural gas to create about the same 1,200 Megawatts of electricity with 33% less fuel while producing 50% less carbon dioxide emissions. Zachry Industrial Inc. of San Antonio was chosen by FPL to build the new Clean Energy Center.
Zachry selected EFCO and the Plate Girder form system to form the concrete on the eight massive columns of the Steam Turbine Generator (STG) structure. The project required eight columns of different sizes. The largest measuring 10 feet x 10 feet x 30 feet tall had large heavy steel embeds and Zachry needed a column form that could stand up to their weight. The Plate Girder panels assembled on the ground were able to hold the embeds while picking the forms and, more importantly, allow the columns to be formed without using internal ties. This resulted in a substantial cost savings and time advantage of not having tie holes to plug and patch. Also, the crew didn’t have to worry about ties interfering with their embed placement.
EFCO also supplied Plate Girder wall forms for the STG wall. With the Clean Energy Center’s placement on the Florida coast and the occasional threat of hurricanes, the formwork had to withstand 140 mph winds, so EFCO used its Super Stud beam as a heavy-duty brace to meet this requirement. The EFCO Super Stud can be assembled to any beam length.
The original Cape Canaveral Power Plant was built more than 45 years ago to help provide energy for the space program. As Zachry completes work on the Cape Canaveral Next Generation Clean Energy Center, it will provide energy for the next generation of space flight as commercialized space flight takes off.