Mitsubishi Electric Power Products, Inc.
Project 21

Market: Manufacturing
Delivery Method: EPC
Location: Memphis, TN
Services Provided: Engineer-Procure-Construct (EPC)
Project Size: 350,000 Square Feet

O'Neal provided Engineering-Procurement-Construction (EPC) services for a $250 million utility-scale transformer manufacturing plant for Mitsubishi Electric Power Products, Inc. (MEPPI) in Memphis, TN.The state-of-the-art integrated facility is approximately 350,000 square feet and features a unique product testing and commissioning area, manufacturing, barge and rail access, and employee and customer amenities.The design incorporates sustainable design principles, including glass curtain walls, to maximize natural light.The site, building, infrastructure, and utilities will be capable of manufacturing a total 10 GVA of capacity.

The building is an engineered steel fabricated building with a concrete panel wall system.The high-bay areas are designed with steel sandwich panels extending from the concrete panel to the roof structure. The manufacturing areas have natural light supplied by external and internal windows, including high bay windows to assist with the lighting system.The new facility has unique incoming power requirements both from a load and complexity basis and includes a separate central utilities building.

The facility is designed for the efficient and economical shipping of finished product with the option for rail, truck, and water/barge.The project includes a new rail spur and a new bridge to cross an easement.A new concrete dock supported with steel piles and a concrete sea wall includes a covered steel structure that houses a 500-ton crane for loading transformers onto barges.The material handling approaches incorporate an external 500-ton crane and motorized transporters.

Due to its proximity to the Mississippi River, the site required extensive site remediation, preparation and grading.The facility design addresses the requirements of design wind speed of 90 mph and seismic design category D.To accommodate the significant structural foundation loads, over 7,500 auger cast piles support the structural floor slab.

The project features Parade Route viewing areas and extended stay rooms for clients, guests and visitors.Several large pieces of equipment reside in the testing hall, including step-up and step-down transformers, compensation reactors, potential transformers, current transformers, induction voltage regular, impulse voltage regulator and 480 V unit substation.The testing facility will be able to perform temperature, dielectric, and applied voltage tests.