Latest News

On October 24, 2019 Cokenergy and Enerfab were presented with our fifth consecutive Zero Injury Safety Award (ZISA) at the National Maintenance Agreements Policy Committee gala at the National Cathedral in Washington DC. The 2018 award represents 174,900 injury free work hours by the Enerfab team working at the Cokenergy project in East Chicago, Indiana. We are extremely proud of the efforts of the Enerfab and Cokenergy teams to reach this milestone for the fifth consecutive year, proving that an injury free workplace is achievable. This award is not possible without a commitment to safe work practices, hazard recognition and open communication between our craft labor teams, Enerfab and Primary Energy. The strong performance continues in 2019, we are close to the 200,000 injury free work hour milestone!

Primary Energy’s employees took part in an employee-based calendar photo contest titled “The Great Outdoors” during the fall of 2018. The customized employee calendar featured various outdoor landscapes and beautiful backdrops from all over the country. The finished product, which included 12 winning photos for each month of the year, was submitted to Richards Graphics for printing, and it was distributed to Primary Energy Employees during their annual holiday event in early January 2019. The Great Lakes Graphics Association (GLGA) Graphics Excellence Awards Competition is one of the largest printing competitions in the nation. Richards Graphic Communications and Primary Energy won a Certificate of Merit for the 2019 Calendar. The judging criteria included registration, crossovers, clarity and neatness, sharpness of halftones and line drawings, richness and tonal qualities of color, paper and ink selection, ink coverage, difficulty of printing, effective contrast or softness, finishing, bindery and overall visual impact. Primary Energy Recycling Holdings, who have the creative people with innovative ideas and photos, along with the skilled production of Richards Graphic Communications, make the perfect team! Congratulations to our Primary Energy Employees on your creative and innovative photos!

As part of our partnership with the Wildlife Habitat Council, Primary Energy Team had the opportunity to participate in a tree planting at the Port of Indiana in Portage on May 2, 2019. The event is a part of the US Forest Service Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Grants and supported by the ecological and community focus of the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation towards increasing urban-industrial conservation partnerships in the Calumet Region. Per Luke Ford, Primary Energy's Director of EHS, " We survived the rain and completed the project before the heaviest rains began". Thank you to Luke, Dave, Rachel and Dominick for participating.

148,000 hours worked by our Enerfab embedded maintenance crews. Bob Wranosky, Luke Ford, Jim Wheeler (Enerfab Superintendent) and Dave Eckhard (Enerfab Boilermaker Foreman) have traveled to Washington to attend the Award Ceremony. Per Keith Kaufman, GM of Cokenergy; "This award is for cumulative hours worked since Enerfab first worked on site, starting with our HRSG retubes. Since this is for last year, and we have had no recordable injuries to date this year, this means that we will have well over 150,000 hrs worked for 2018, and will be in the next level of Awards for the ZISA." Great job team!!!

Effective October 24, 2018, North Lake Energy is certified as an Ohio Renewable Energy Resource Generating Facility. The North Lake steam turbine was upgraded from a 75MW capacity to a 90MW capacity in 2012. This upgrade allows the incremental 15MW to qualify for the sale of non-solar recycled energy credits (“RECs”) in the state of Ohio. One recycled energy credit is equivalent to the generation of 1 MWh. Since the North Lake project resides in the state of Indiana (adjacent to the state of Ohio), it qualifies under the Ohio Renewable Portfolio Standard. Note, the state of Indiana does not currently have a recycled energy credit market or requirement. North Lake’s generation is classified as waste heat as the facility moves waste heat created during the production of steel from the atmospheric flare stack into a boiler so the waste energy can be extracted into useful power that otherwise would have been lost. All energy produced by North Lake is used within the mill and offsets purchases from the local utility. This is an exciting enhancement opportunity to North Lake and Primary Energy as it creates an incremental revenue stream from existing generation.

Primary Energy teamed with Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) on June 15, 2018 to plant over 60 native species trees. The project was part of the US Forest Service Great Lakes Restoration Initiative promoting urban forestry at Coastal Lake Michigan industrial facilities. Portside Energy provided an ideal dune environment for the planting within an industrial facility. Teaming with the Primary Energy group for the planting event, were representatives from US Steel, ArcelorMittal, Praxair, WHC and US Forest Service.