Westinghouse subsidiary wins machining and welding services contract from large geothermal power company

Feb. 28, 2008

Westinghouse Electric Company subsidiary WEC Welding and Machining (www.westinghousenuclear.com) has won a major contract from CalEnergy (www.calenergy.com) to complete the 2507 Super Duplex Pipe Replacement Project. WEC Welding and Machining's Carolina Energy Solutions (CES) will provide all machining and welding services for the project. CalEnergy, located in Calipatria, Calif., is one of the largest geothermal power producers in the U.S., and is indirectly owned by MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. and TransAlta Corporation.

CES will provide orbital welding of 2507 Super Duplex Stainless Steel utilizing 686CPT Inconel filler material for the replacement of the customer's existing carbon steel pipeline. The pipeline, which is 14,000 feet in length, will require more than 600 welds. The project will last approximately four months. This is CES' largest customer order to date.

David Riley of CES Marketing and Sales said, "To extend the useful life of its pipelines, CalEnergy elected to replace its piping with 2507 Super Duplex Stainless Steel, which is a difficult material to weld under stringent criteria. CES was chosen because of the company's consistent results and ability to meet schedule."

CES has extensive large-scale project experience within the power sectors across the United States. This is the first major installation of 2507 Super Duplex Stainless Steel using orbital welding equipment. CES successfully met the very stringent weld properties established by CalEnergy for this project by repetitively producing 100-percent flawless X-ray welds.

Carolina Energy Solutions LLC, a subsidiary of Westinghouse's WEC Welding and Machining, is a supplier of welding and machining services to the nuclear, fossil and hydropower generation, waste-to-energy, petro-chemical, gas and general fabrication industries. The company is headquartered in Rock Hill, S.C.

Westinghouse Electric Company, a Toshiba Group company, is the world's pioneering nuclear power company and is a supplier of nuclear plant products and technologies to utilities throughout the world. Today, Westinghouse technology is the basis for approximately one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants. Westinghouse acquired CES in late 2007.