SEATTLE, WA — POWER Engineers Inc.’s $12.9-million design-build renovation work at the Navy’s historic Jim Creek Naval Radio Station earned the Silver Award for Design Excellence at the Society of American Engineers’ (SAME) Seattle and Tacoma Post’s Annual Projects of Excellence Awards ceremony.

POWER and its prime design-build contractor, MACNAK Construction, were tasked by Naval Facilities Engineering Command Northwest (NAVFAC NW) with removing and replacing mission-critical generators at the Jim Creek Naval Radio Station in Snohomish County, Washington. The two new generators operate at 2.5 MW with standby capabilities, providing a major upgrade in generation redundancy and resiliency compared to the original 2,500 KW of the previous generator.

In addition to the updated generators, POWER and MACNAK closely collaborated with NAVFAC NW to renovate the generator buildings and utilities to accommodate the modern equipment updates, including making improvements to the site’s mechanical and electrical systems, meeting seismic requirements, developing an updated facility plan, and incorporating sustainable lighting and emissions systems.

Built in 1953, Jim Creek was one of the world’s most significant achievements in radio transmission upon its initial operations, capable of transmitting Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio waves at twice the power as any military or commercial station within the United States. Jim Creek remains a critical Naval site today.

“This project is why working at POWER is so fun,” said Kevin Tetz, Program Manager. “This challenging project in the secluded Cascades had a little bit of everything, from historical preservation and seismic updates to traditional power and electrons and diesel fueling. We had a great team that had such a great time, and we would like to thank SAME Seattle and Tacoma for this honor and for hosting this event.”