Oversized machinery finally arrives at P&G plant in Albany

ALBANY — A convoy of two pieces of heavy machinery, accompanied by a bucket trucks and the Georgia State Patrol, completed the final leg of a 165-mile journey from the port of Brunswick to the Procter & Gamble plant early this afternoon.

The two pieces are to be used in the construction of a new biomass power generating plant boiler which will burn wood chips to generate steam to turn turbines to create electricity. The machines were so large they required special permits from the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) to make the trek, which began last Thursday in Brunswick. The trucks parked in Sylvester Tuesday evening.

The two pieces are the two largest prefabricated pieces in the new power plant’s construction. According to GDOT permits, the equipment was listed as a ‘loop seal tertiary super heater, and a vortex.’

The first of the oversized loads (the super heater) weighed 150,000 pounds, which includes the piece of equipment as well as the truck and trailer, and measures 83 feet long, 20 feet high and more than 20 feet wide.

The second oversized load (the vortex) was smaller, weighing in at 74,000 pounds and measuring 83 feet long, nearly 19 feet high and nearly 17 feet wide.

The GSP was on hand because the load widths required the use of two lanes and the bucket trucks were used to lift low hanging power lines over the roadways to allow clearance.

According to GDOT officials, the oversized loads which arrived at P&G Wednesday are not typical and are the first of eight oversized loads which will eventually make their way to the plant. However, the two loads which arrived Wednesday were the two largest pieces of machinery.

The new power plant is being built by Constellation, which will own the facility and will sell steam and power to P&G and Georgia Power.