Olmsted Power Plant

At the mouth of Provo Canyon south of Salt Lake City, Utah a new hydroelectric power plant is taking the place of an outdated existing structure. Coblaco was awarded the contract to install all coatings involved with the construction of this new facility. The scope of the Olmstead Power Plant project was complex, including architectural finishes to high-performance coatings to concrete staining, all of these elements presenting unique challenges.

The first major challenge for the crews was coating the structural steel in the ceiling of the turbine room. The set-up of this room made this room impossible to access with a manlift, meaning that a different solution was needed to coat the joists that peaked almost 70 feet off the concrete floor. The building’s bridge crane, along with scaffolding and a pole-gun provided just enough height to reach all of the ceiling. But it was not an easy way to work and great care was needed to ensure the applicators safety and the safety of those below.

The next hurdle that came our way was a request from the owner to add some concrete staining to our scope. But this was no ordinary concrete staining. The wall and vault in need of staining sat on the side of a mountain and our task was to make an exposed faces blend in with the natural surroundings. Using a manlift perched carefully on the mountainside, crews blended 5 different colors of stain to give the concrete a natural appearance.

Even after completing the critical elements of the ceiling and concrete, crews still had to coat long stretches of large-diameter pipe, intricate turbine generators and gyp-board ceilings and walls, work that stretched over 4 mobilizations to the site. The project was completed successfully and the Olmsted plant now has an updated look!