Calpine energizes new power plant with uniquely efficient storage mezzanine

Decatur, AL / Natural gas-fed power plant

Problem
Calpine, the world's largest supplier of renewable geothermal energy, supplies power to northern Alabama at its Calpine Morgan Energy Center. When the plant was being built, Calpine Morgan's director of purchasing and warehousing, Rodney Looney, was looking for a storage solution that would reduce costs, maximize productivity and enable the facility to run as efficiently as possible.
Objective
Looney was looking for a versatile storage solution for the new facility that could house both large bulky items and items as small as nuts and bolts. He was also looking for products that offered sturdy construction, products that would stand up to time.
Solution
Calpine Morgan turned to Lista's innovative Storage Wall® system, as well as a number of Lista modular drawer storage cabinets with ESD paint and technical workbenches. Engineers from Lista and Calpine Morgan were able to design a custom storage and mezzanine system that exactly met the plant's specific storage needs. Calpine Morgan appreciated the way the Storage Wall system made full use of vertical height and, in doing so, took up less floor space than traditional shelving or cabinets. It provided maximum storage capacity in a relatively small footprint. And with its compartmentalized drawer interiors, the Lista system allowed Calpine Morgan to have separate compartments for each item that was to be stored. According to Looney, each drawer currently holds 20 different parts including a range of parts for steam and gas turbines as well as different sized nuts and bolts, all separated by partitions and dividers. The subdivided drawers have allowed the Energy Center to streamline its inventory process. Parts can now be easily located and accounted for using bar coding and hand-held scanners. The versatility of the Lista system comes to the forefront with design of the interior Storage Wall units. Laid out back-to-back, the four interior Storage Wall sections offer open shelving with no rear wall, making the shelves double in depth and enabling extra long items such as equipment shafts to be stored. Together, the eight Storage Wall sections also provided an excellent base level for the second level of the mezzanine, which serves as a unique storage "attic". Accessible by an adjacent stairway, the mezzanine's upper level is a convenient, versatile space for storing bulk items, boxes and parts that may not be needed on a regular basis.
Benefits
Looney and the other managers at the Calpine Morgan facility are thrilled with the efficiency that the Lista mezzanine and the other Lista storage solutions bring to their plant. "Lista's well-built products were better than the rest. They had the quality, versatility and the lifetime warranty we were looking for," Looney said. "Lista's products will be with us for a long time, and we will definitely purchase more storage products from Lista when the need arises."