Viega ProPress Stainless system chosen over welding to cut installation/retrofit man-hours at wind turbine plant
With alternative energy sources in high demand, Vestas Wind Systems made a substantial investment in 2009 by building North America's largest wind turbine manufacturing facility. The Denmark-based energy company is a world leader in equipment designed to harness the power of the wind.
Located in Pueblo, CO, the plant was built in 2009. Olson Plumbing and Heating of Colorado Springs was selected to install the industrial gas and compressed air piping for the project.
Olson had prior experience with Viega's pressing technology on copper tubing installations. Because of that success and the volatility of copper prices, it was decided that Viega ProPress Stainless would be used for the Vestas installation.
John Hill, superintendent of Olson Plumbing and Heating, oversaw the original installation, as well as the continuing retrofit projects at the plant. At first they planned to use orbital welding to connect stainless pipes, but the number of man-hours needed was significantly reduced by using Viega ProPress Stainless.
After prefabricating some of the Viega ProPress Stainless connections and piping at the Olson shop, the installation teams piped the 500,000-square-foot production area and a 50,000-square-foot internal area at the Vestas facility. Stainless steel pipe and fittings in sizes ranging from ½" to 4" were used in the installation.
The teams installed 21 miles of stainless pipe over a five-month period. "Using Viega ProPress instead of welding saved the company a lot of time," stated Hill. "The Vestas project was completed within budget about three or four weeks ahead of schedule. Installing stainless pipe with Viega ProPress took a fraction of the time that butt-welding would have taken."
Compared to welding, the time savings of Viega ProPress ranged from about 95 percent for 2" pipe to nearly 93 percent for 4", according to data published by Olson.
Now that the plant is up and running, Olson Plumbing and Heating continues to handle retrofit and maintenance projects as required. "Olson does 95 percent of the retrofit work at Vestas," said Hill. "We've had at least two dozen retrofit projects there."
"The Vestas plant is basically all Viega ProPress Stainless," he added, "and the company wants us to continue using it. They don't want to do anything different because Viega ProPress stainless has worked so well."
