By MIKE CORN

mcorn@dailynews.net

You can't stand in one spot for too long at the Goodman Energy Center without being in somebody's way.

That's how busy the construction is.

With a steady flow of work to be done, inside and out, the soon-to-be electrical generation plant is a bustling place.

The Goodman center, located at the northwest edge of Hays, is a $61 million project designed to provide electricity to thousands of homes in the Midwest Energy service area.

It could, when operating at its potential, provide almost enough electricity to supply the city of Hays during summer months when electricity use is at its greatest. During the winter, it could provide power to a larger area.

But that's not the idea behind the natural gas-powered generation facility.

Instead, it will be used to cover periods when electricity use is at its greatest, such as during summer months.

Even though only six of the nine planned engines and generation units have been put in place at the center, the goal is to start turning them on soon for test runs.

The hope, according to Bill Dowling, Midwest Energy's vice president of energy management and supply, is to start the first engine by April 15.

The goal is to ensure everything is working as planned, but it also will signal the start of electrical generation from the plant.

By the first of June, all six engines should be on line, capable of producing electricity.

By the time the plant is fully operational -- when all nine engines are in place and operating at capacity -- the plant will be able to produce 75 megawatts of power. The three other engines have not been delivered yet, although they should ship from Finland in April, bound for Hays.

But the goal is to provide peaking power to Midwest's system, or provide something of a backup system in the event other problems develop.

In the electric-distribution system, redundancy is the name of the game, Dowling said.

"You don't want to have all your eggs in one basket," he said.

There was plenty of evidence of that during a tour of the plant Tuesday.

For example, there will be two transformers at the site.

They are separated by a concrete wall -- for fire protection purposes, considering the 6,000 gallons of oil that each one holds. With a ordering delay of as much as a year, they can't be purchased off the shelf.

Dowling said because of that, the transformers come from different manufacturers to ensure against the possibility of any design flaws. That single transformer will be able to handle power from about two-thirds of the plant.

While the plant is being built by Midwest Energy and its power will be used by Midwest Energy customers, the plant will be operated by a contractor.

Seven jobs are being created by the plant, which will be managed by North American Energy Services, Caney's Point, N.J.

"These folks will be living here," said Midwest spokesman Bob Helm.

Most of the components of the Goodman Center are coming from overseas. The 20-cylinder engines and generators, each weighing 150 tons, are constructed in Finland, by Wartsila. Most of the supporting components come from companies Wartsila is used to working with, Dowling said.

Some of the equipment has warning labels in both German and English, for example.

While the plant only will have nine engines when it is complete, it has the layout necessary to handle up to 12 engines.

Should they need to expand, the north end of the building could be removed and expanded to allow for three additional engines.

The system is similar to your everyday automobile, except it is much larger and lacks the wheels to move about. The 20-cylinder engines turn attached rotors to produce the energy. Each one is capable of producing 11,500 horsepower.

More importantly, however, each generator will produce 8.4 megawatts of electricity, enough to roughly supply 840 homes each.

At the other end of the machine, the water-cooled engines exhaust outside, working through a huge catalytic converter to remove emissions.

One of the reasons this particular system was selected was because it is a closed system as far as water is concerned.

Only 15,000 gallons of water will be needed to fill up the cooling systems for the nine engines that will be in place.

"Once we fill the system with water, it will use essentially nothing," Dowling said.

Under the terms of the air permit, the Goodman plant will be able to run about 8,000 hours a year.

Considering there are only 8,760 hours in a year, that means the plant could -- if necessary -- run more than just the peak use months in the summer.

"This first year, we're thinking we're going to run in the 1,000 to 1,500 hour range," Dowling said, "and those might not be at full load."

What is perhaps most surprising, Dowling said, is the engines are not bolted to the floor of the center, resting instead on a series of 20 spring packs.

"Which means the engine has to be pretty well balanced, or it would walk out of here."