General Manager's Corner
Spring 2009
By: Tim Hestle
Have you ever received one of those fun fact books for your birthday? They describe important historical things that happened during the year you were born. Since the Energy
Generation Facility (“EGF”) recently celebrated its five-year anniversary, I thought it would be
interesting to look at some things that have occurred during the past five years.
2003
- Constellation Energy Projects & Services Group (“Constellation Energy”) begins commercial operation of the new Energy Generation Facility for the Metro Nashville District Energy System (“DES”) on December 16.
- Dow goes above 10,000.
- Mad cow disease is confirmed.
2004
- NASA rover lands on Mars.
- Metro DES celebrates “Grand Opening” January 26.
- Scientists clone human embryos in South Korea.
- VIPs from Nashville's “European Sister City,” Magdeburg, Germany, tour the EGF with a representative from the mayor's office.
- Former President Ronald Reagan dies.
- Olympics are held in Greece.
- Oil prices top $50 per barrel.
- Boston Red Sox win first World Series since 1918.
- George W. Bush is re-elected president.
- The first meeting of the Metro DES Advisory Board is held.
- Earthquake in Indian Ocean creates tsunami which devastates Indonesia.
2005
- New England Patriots win back-to-back Super Bowls.
- Pope John Paul II dies.
- Two new customers added to Nashville District Energy System - Viridian Tower and Schermerhorn Symphony Center.
- Metro Public Library connects to Nashville District Energy System.
- Hurricane Katrina devastates the Gulf Coast near New Orleans.
- Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have major negative impact on fuel prices.
- Constellation Energy promotes John Schaffer to VP of operations.
- Tim Hestle takes over as general manager responsible for the Nashville District Energy System.
2006
- Constellation Energy's partnership with the city of Nashville to design, build and operate the new district energy facility wins top honors from the National Council for Public-Private Partnerships.
- Pittsburgh Steelers win Super Bowl.
- A.A. Birch Courthouse connection to Nashville District Energy System is completed.
- International District Energy Association Conference is held in Nashville.
- Constellation Energy and Nashville District Energy System are awarded District Energy System of the Year.
- Oil reaches $78.40/barrel.
- Fidel Castro hands over control of Cuba to his brother.
- Members of the Japanese Heat Services Utilities Association tour the EGF.
- Former President Gerald Ford dies.
2007
- Constellation Energy and Metro develop a Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan for the DES.
- Indianapolis Colts win the Super Bowl, led by former UT quarterback Peyton Manning.
- Mayor Purcell dedicates an informational kiosk describing the history of district energy in Nashville and a commemorative plaque at Nashville District Energy System's Generation Facility.
- Gordon Brown replaces Tony Blair as United Kingdom's new prime minister.
- Metro selects Harry Ragsdale of Thermal Engineering Group as new contract administrator for the Nashville DES.
- Nashville experiences the hottest and driest August since record-keeping began 137 years ago.
- Dow peaks above 14,000.
- Mortgage crisis hits U.S. market.
- World markets fall after U.S. losses.
- Al Gore wins Nobel Prize for stance against global warming.
- Karl Dean is sworn in as sixth mayor of Metro Nashville and Davidson County.
- Red Sox sweep the World Series.
2008
- Eli Manning leads N.Y. Giants in Super Bowl victory over Patriots.
- EGF upgrades operating hardware and software.
- More than 100,000 people attend the Country Music Association Music Festival in Nashville.
- Oil prices hit a record high of $147.02/barrel.
- Olympic Games are held in China.
- Michael Phelps wins a record eight gold medals swimming for U.S.A.
- Dow hits five-year low, now below 10,000.
- U.S. House approves bailout package for insurance and banking industries.
- Barack Obama is elected president.
- New OSHA-mandated ARC Flash Program is implemented at EGF.
2009
- Mayor Dean attends five-year anniversary celebration for Metro Nashville District Energy System.
- Pittsburgh Steelers win a record sixth Super Bowl.
- Dow drops below 7,000.
- During the past five years, Constellation Energy has provided safe, reliable and efficient steam and chilled water service to the DES customers. Plant personnel take safety very seriously and strive for an accident-free workplace. Taking into account the type and amount of work handled by our team, I consider it a major accomplishment to have achieved zero lost-time accidents. Normally, one would think that as equipment ages, efficiency would diminish. Over the past five years, however, the efficiency of the EGF has increased due to operators finding new and better ways to operate and maintenance personnel keeping the equipment in “like-new” condition. Constellation Energy continues to meet all of its contractual guarantees, and the savings achieved by these efficiencies are passed through to the customers. Something else we are very proud of is the Energy Generation Facility's reliability. Since startup, it has been online 99.8 percent of the time, including scheduled outages. As far as the DES customers are concerned, this is probably the most important accomplishment we have achieved. As we continue into the future, Constellation Energy Projects & Services Group is looking forward to many more years of successful operation of the District Energy System for the city of Nashville.