Unique Elements of the Olmsted County Facility Expansion

Olmsted County is currently expanding their existing waste-to-energy facility in Rochester, Minnesota to add a third mass burn waste combustor. The new unit will have a capacity of 200 TPD, effectively doubling the size of the existing capacity. This paper will discuss some of the unique aspects of this project and review the current status. Some of the interesting and unique features to be discussed include: 1. Environmental Permitting – The county decided to do a voluntary EIS. 2. Project approach – The county is using a Construction Manager at Risk approach for construction of the facility. 3. Engineering – The engineering scope includes several separate procurements of major equipment packages, balance of plant design and several auxiliary projects related to the ‘utility’ system. 4. Operator Collaboration – Olmsted County is one of a few public owners that operate their facility. Their knowledge of the existing facility and of operating a mass burn facility has been used extensively in the planning and design of the new unit.