Our work speaks volumes.

Our professionals have developed a diverse portfolio of experience working for utilities, government agencies, institutions, industries, developers and professional service firms. Here’s a sample of our broad utility sector experience.asdfasdfasdf

Substation Project Management

For an electric utility in Houston, Texas, Gold Wave personnel managed multiple projects with various scopes and budgets, including multiple site engineering and coordination efforts, as well as budgets in excess of $10MM. Project management duties included continuous evaluation of the projects’ health through budget and schedule monitoring, and preparing status reports utilizing earned value metrics.

Leaking Underground Storage Tank Program Management

Gold Wave personnel managed over two dozen Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) sites in Illinois and Missouri, totaling over $1.2MM of annual effort.

Projects included site investigation and remediation, as well as tank removals and emergency response activities for tank failures that became LUST projects. Project work included long-term monitoring with plume stability evaluations using both Mann-Kendall and Rickers-type evaluations, use of sub-slab depressurization systems to address vapor intrusion, multi-phase and soil vapor extraction remediation, free product recovery, soil gas sampling, groundwater assessments and modeling, and preparation of project deliverables for regulatory agencies including investigation and corrective action work plans/budgets, investigation reports,  environmental land use controls and corrective action completion reports, and reimbursement applications.

Manufactured Gas Plant Investigation and Remediation

Gold Wave personnel have managed investigation and remediation for dozens of former manufactured gas plant sites under Illinois, Indiana, and New Jersey cleanup programs as well as under the U.S. EPA Superfund Alternate Sites program.

Responsibilities for these projects included design, implementation, and reporting of comprehensive site investigation activities and remedial actions including soil removal, in-situ thermal remediation (ISTR) using electrical resistive heating (ERH) and soil vapor extraction (SVE), free product recovery, sediment remediation, capping/engineered barriers, water treatment, demolition of structures, as well as site restoration activities.

Veteran Administration Hospital Backup Power Plant

For the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston, Texas, Gold Wave personnel successfully turned around a $6MM backup generator installation project that was behind schedule.

Through resourceful collaboration with the EPA regarding emissions permitting and control equipment exemptions for new emergency generators being installed at the facility’s central utility plant, streamlined and shortened the project schedule by 6 months resulting in delivery of the project on schedule and under budget.

Design and Construction of Rail Tanker Containment

Gold Wave personnel managed design and construction of a $1.2MM concrete containment system to comply with federal spill prevention (SPCC) requirements for a rail spur that normally holds three 30,000-gallon rail tank cars used to store soybean oil for the food plant operations. 

Project also included design and construction of: an oil-water separator and sump system to treat storm water exiting the containment structure; the rail turnout from the lead track to the spur and rail approach to the containment structure; adjacent miscellaneous concrete work; and storm sewer and structures. 

An employee training program was developed, an O&M Manual for the system was prepared, and the facility SPCC Plan was revised.

AMI and Distribution Automation Circuit Reconfiguration/Volt Var Optimization (DACR/VVO) Feasibility Studies

Gold Wave personnel managed feasibility studies required by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to evaluate costs/benefits of the AMI program and DACR/VVO projects for Phases 2 and 3 of the utility’s rollout of Smart Grid deployment in urban and rural areas throughout Ohio service areas, respectively.

Feasibility studies evaluated options for AMI deployment to optimize customer and utility benefits versus communication infrastructure costs. For DACR, the studies: 1) evaluated the circuits that had been the worst performing in recent years in order to identify the circuits that would yield maximum customer reliability benefits; and 2) prioritize the DACR deployment to achieve the greatest outage improvement opportunity to minimize the overall customer-minutes of interruption (CMI).

Lastly, the studies evaluated peak power and energy demands and the costs/benefits of VVO deployment with respect to customer bill savings attributable to energy/capacity savings and air emission benefits.

Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Program Management

Working in-house as a contracted AMI Program Manager to one of the largest Midwestern utilities, Gold Wave personnel planned and initiated state‐wide deployment of its AMI system, beginning with over 750,000 meters throughout the Columbus, Ohio area.

Program management functions included coordination of utility and contracted Project Managers, Business Analysts, and Project Schedulers, with responsibility to multiple groups within the utility as well as state utility commissions. Managed meter/network installation contractors with daily meetings to track and monitor production levels, safety, inventory, issues, and risks.

Gold Wave personnel presented the AMI deployment status to the state regulatory commission regarding adherence to the timeline detailed in the original order approving the AMI project.

RCRA Closure of Hazardous Waste Management Units

Gold Wave assisted a metal fabricator with closure of two hazardous waste management units (HWMUs) used to store a variety of process wastes from a mothballed aluminum etching line as well as containerized chemicals from a former painting process and other chemical used in the manufacturing processes or for facility maintenance.

The etch room wastes were contaminated with cyanide and hexavalent chromium and fumes and incidental drippage from the chemical conversion coating process had impacted the walls and floor of the HWMU, requiring demolition of the affected wall materials and scarification of the concrete floor.  Debris from the demolition and scarification work was disposed as listed hazardous waste.

Additional activities completed during the closure process included: integrity inspections of the HWMU floors; subsurface investigation to evaluate for soil impacts; televising and removal of a process sewer; and decontamination of nonporous surfaces and the drum room floor.

Supplemental services provided included preparation of the facility’s annual Hazardous Waste Report, assisting with EPCRA Tier 2 Reporting, and testing soil for construction of a new equipment foundation in another area of the plant.

Electrical Distribution Engineering Program Management

Illinois

Gold Wave personnel developed and managed a program to deliver over $8MM in electrical distribution system design work and testing and commissioning services to a major Midwest utility for projects in Chicago, Cook County, and the surrounding counties.

Over 80 scope statements regarding Distribution Automation (DA), Energy Infrastructure Modernization Act (EIMA), and summer-critical projects for both overhead and underground infrastructure were evaluated.  Management of the program required concurrent delivery of over 60 distribution engineering projects totaling over $1.2MM in engineering, utilizing cross‐functional teams.

Gold Wave personnel developed the engineering design process flow to enable staff to efficiently complete projects from inception to conclusion resulting in delivery of high quality, economical designs. Supplemental services provided included permitting with the City of Chicago and state/county departments of transportation, including preparation of traffic control plans.

Transactional Due Diligence for City of Rock Island

Gold Wave completed Phase I and II ESAs for a City-owned property that was formerly used for commercial and industrial purposes, including chemical treatment of metal fabricated products that resulted in contamination with metals, petroleum products, and chlorinated solvents. Based on the City’s goal of entering the parcel into the Illinois EPA voluntary Site Remediation Program (SRP) to obtain a No Further Remediation Letter, the Phase II ESA scope was developed to fully delineate impacts in all environmental media, including soil, soil gas, and groundwater.

Based on the findings of the Phase II ESA, Gold Wave prepared a Feasibility Study that developed and evaluated remedial alternatives with respect to their implementability, effectiveness, long- and short-term risks, schedule, and cost, including preparation of detailed engineer’s estimates of cost. The Feasibility Study provided the City and the prospective purchaser sufficient information to select remediation objectives and a cleanup approach such that both the SRP-required Remedial Objective Report and Remedial Action Plan could be prepared.

Emerging Technologies Program Management for Electric Utility

Gold Wave personnel assisted a large Midwestern utility with business transformation and change management for a high‐profile, clustered microgrid installation in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The microgrid includes integration of technologies in building energy management (BEM) systems, automated control of grid functions, and distributed energy resources (DER) including 750 kW of solar and rolling power generation and 500kW (2 MWh) of battery energy storage systems (BESS).

The Bronzeville Microgrid is the first utility-operated clustered microgrid in the nation. This pilot was completed in close coordination with the Department of Energy and the Illinois Institute of Technology and is the model for future similar projects throughout the United States. Coordinated interfacing between interutility groups to identify roles and responsibilities, including installation, testing and commissioning, operations/monitoring at the Operations Control Center, communication and IT, construction (including scheduled maintenance and unscheduled corrective actions), and training.

As part of the Emerging Technologies program, Gold Wave personnel were also responsible for implementing business transformation processes for other emerging technologies for utility operational readiness, including smart streetlights, electric vehicle charging, and public WiFi.

Municipal Leaking Underground Storage Tank Investigation and Closure

Gold Wave completed investigation and reporting for the City of Naperville to obtain regulatory closure for a legacy LUST incident related to a former gas station that was located on the City’s Municipal Center property.

Based on the results of an investigation of soil and groundwater at the site, Illinois EPA issued a No Further Action letter in April 2021.

The City has since retained Gold Wave to assist with obtaining a No Further Remediation letter from Illinois EPA for a downtown City-owned property under the site Remediation Program and to complete a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment for 22 acres of City-owned property to be divested for redevelopment.

Electrical Utility Distribution System Infrastructure Improvement Program Management

Since 2020, Gold Wave personnel have been providing contracted in-house program and project management support for a large Midwest utility for over $40MM of projects in northwest Indiana.

In preparation for the new extension of the South Shore Line commuter rail in the West Lake Corridor, 7.8 miles of electrical facility relocations were required between Hammond and Dyer, IN. Similarly, in advance of installing a second set of tracks along 25 miles of the South Shore Line between Gary and Michigan City, approximately 700 electrical facility relocations were required. Gold Wave personnel assisted with managing other smaller electrical utility relocation and improvement projects, including for construction of a pedestrian bridge in Hammond and relocation of 76 poles along 45th Avenue in Gary.

The projects required coordination and management of multiple utility engineering and construction subcontractors required public outreach as well as coordinating the work with other railroads, multiple municipalities, the National Parks Service, USACE, INDOT, NICTD and its design-build firm, other utilities, real estate acquisitions, material vendors, and legal teams.

Site Investigation and Remediation under Illinois EPA Site Remediation Program

Gold Wave assisted an international printing company with investigation and remediation of a solvent release at their Hanover Park, Illinois facility.

Services included investigation and remediation of soil, soil gas, and groundwater, including installation and operation of a soil vapor extraction (SVE) system and directional drilling of groundwater monitoring wells.

Total project value for Owner exceeded $1MM and an unconditional No Further Remediation (NFR) Letter was issued by Illinois EPA in January 2022.