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Letters of Appreciation

Dear Van Dyke Brothers:

Nebraska PubHc Power District would like to take a moment to Thank You and your staff for your excellent efforts in respondmg to our immediate needs for assistance in moving the Axtell 345kV transformer across Nebraska. As you are well aware, this project was extremely important to NPPD to help meet the upcoming summer load usage in the Northeast Nebraska area. With your company's quick response and exceptional support during both the planning 

process as well as the actual moving of the transformer you met and exceeded our expectations.

Your staff was both professional and knowledgeable which obviously assisted with completing this move in a safe and timely manner. To complete this work and not have any Safety Incidents or Accidents is a huge testament to the quality of work your company exhibits.

On behalf of NPPD and our customers, we express our sincere appreciation to you and your employees and look forward to working with you in the future.

Sincerely,

Paul E. Brune

Construction Services Manager

Phone: 402-362-7222

Cell: 402-984-0854

pebrune@nppd.com

I would like to take the opportunity to thank all the major parties that worked in the switchyard this year. As you all know. Transformer 4 Phase 3 failure caused a lot of additional work and planning that was unanticipated. The success of all that was accomplished was due to the efforts of AEP personnel and our contractors working together as a team. When you look back at how many man hours were put into the work performed and the congested work zones, we are very fortunate to not have any OSHA recordable incidents. I am not even aware of any first aid incidents. A lot of work was accomplished when the decision was made to replace the Hyundai's with the Hicos in a short period of time; not to mention the transformer failure at Dumont causing workers to be stretched further and additional work at Cook with the dismantling and transport of the Elin. I would like to specifically recognize the following contractors and the roles they played.

Terra Contracting- When the transformer failed and the oil containment wall was breached. Cook plant personnel went into action and did their best to stop the leak at the corner of the containment wall. Kim Brown was notified and got hold of Terra. Terra responded by getting a crew together, after their regular work day, and were on site a few hours after initial contact. Because of the fire on the transformer, Terra was sent home and was called back about an hour later Terra retrieved the remaining oil in the containment and began working around the clock for the cleanup in the sand. They worked many weeks with oversight from the plant environmental and Kim. The end result was the MDEQ approval of clean up with no additional monitoring. Terra also cleaned out the old transformer oil retention pond and removed 8500 gal of sludge and debris.

Newkirk Electric- Newkirk also quickly mobilized on site a couple days after failure. Newkirk had many roles throughout the summer Newkirk worked with Terra in support of removal of containment walls and liners to keep the hydrovacing process going. Once the decision was made to move the Hyundai's and bring in the Hicos, Newkirk provided supervision and workers to help tear down the failed transformer, remove leads and bushings from the remaining 2 transformers, assist Van Dyke crew on transformer moves, assist on assembly of transformers and install newly engineered containment walls and liners. They also performed the scheduled 2 separate weeks of LCO outages for the in-service of BG-BF breakers and Transformer 9 for reserve feed to the plant. Newkirk was also involved in support of the demo of the ASEA's and dismantling of the Elin. When the 34.5kV plant reserve feed cables where compromised due to the forklift/Plastibeton incident, Newkirk mobilized day shift and night shift crew to inspect and test cables during LCO outage. Newkirk was also involved with the demo work of the structures for old transformer 4.

Imperial Crane - Imperial crane helped this summer by providing operators, supervision and creating/updating lifts plans. A lot of planning was done by Imperial for logistic on movement of transformers. They were involved on travel path, staging and sequence of the transformer moves. They made sure all Plastibeton crossings had adequate support with elevated steel plates. They planned how to stage matting and steel plates for the demo of ASEAs and getting all transformers to their designated pads. Imperial provided supplemental rigging supervisor for work performed by cranes. They also supplied crane support for demo of exit span lattice towers. Imperial also had the challenging task with Van Dyke to obtain MDOT/IDOT permits for the Elin move.

Van Dyke Bros. - Van Dyke performed all the transformer moves of the Hicos from the rail car to the pads, move of the failed Hyundai to the spare pad, move of the 2 remaining Hyundai's to the ASEA pads. They were instrumental on the move of the Elin with the Heavy Hauler from Cook to Dumont station.

A-Line EDS - A-Line task was to dismantle and remove the 3 ASEA transformers and the failed transformer 4 Phase 3. They did a great job and were flexible to our schedule to get us in before year end. 

All of these contractors worked well together and recognized that work needed to be performed safely. I would like to also recognize my AEP brothers & sisters that for the tasks on assembly of transformers, installation of health monitoring equipment, and commissioning of equipment. We had support from Benton Harbor, South Bend and a crew from Fort Waynefor a couple of days. P & C had their venders on site as well. We had a lot of support from the plant and it was critical that the plant allowed work to continue during switchyard guarded days otherwise our in-serve date goals would not have been met. A lot of meetings and planning was done to pull this off.

I just wanted to extend my thanks and appreciation to all those that made this year at Cook a successful and injury free.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year;

Jeffrey Wolf

Transmission Construction Representative (TCR)

American Electric Power (Transmission!

Cell: {574)-210-1663

Email: iawolf(a)aep.com

Dear Monte,

I hope everything is going well for you and your team.

Westar Energy greatly appreciates the professional job Van Dykes Brothers did in moving the Auburn transformer. It took a great organized effort to complete this on schedule, as planned and with no issues.

As you know Westar Energy's Corporate Communication Specialist spent several days with you taking pictures and shooting video. I have included two copies of the CD containing his work. I thought you and your team might find this of interest.

Thank you again for the great effort moving this transformer.

Richard Good

Westar Energy

Dear Monte,

Westar Energy had a critical situation with two large EHV transformers out of service in its Rose Hill Substation near Wichita, Kansas. Without these transformers, reliable electric service to the City of Wichita was at risk. It was critical to get at least one transformer replaced in order to reliably service the Wichita area.

Thanks to the people at Van Dyke Bros, and their extraordinary efforts, we were able to get the transformer in service on the evening of June 28.

We have not lost sight of the role you and Van Dyke Bros, played in our success. Without the terrific service of your team we would be at severe risk of electricity interruptions.

By the way, it was 103 degrees in Wichita on June 29, followed by four more consecutive days above 100 degrees.

Westar Energy and our customers are grateful to have the transformer in service and we really appreciate your role in helping to make this happen.

Thank you to you and your team for their safe, timely and quality work.

Sincerely,

Doug Sterbenz

Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer

Westar Energy

To Whom It May Concern:

KCP&L has replaced three large GSU transformers in the past three years and has hired Van Dyke Brothers to move two of them. The first was in April, 2008 at our LaCygne Unit 1 where an existing 850 MVA Westinghouse GSU was moved from the existing foundation to a spare pad and a new 970 MVA Mitsubishi was moved onto the existing foundation. This required precise moves in order to clear a pipe bridge, safely move under two energized 345kV overhead lines, and line up with existing isophase bus.

The second was in March, 2011 when we replaced a 724 MVA Westinghouse GSU transformer with an 870 MVA Hyundai GSU. Because of clearance problems with the existing isophase bus the transformer could only be raised two inches before it was moved out - Van Dyke was able to perform this with no problem. The new GSU was slid into place and placed precisely with only one minor adjustment. A 44MVA auxiliary transformer was also replaced at the same time.

In both cases Van Dyke Brothers were able to perform excellent work in a short time period while exercising maximum safety procedures. Their willingness to cooperate with all the KCP&L crafts and other contractors on site made working with them a pleasure. By contrast, another Heavy Equipment Mover hired to move a GSU in 2010 (because Van Dyke was already booked during that time period) performed poorly, engaged in several unsafe practices, would not cooperate with other crafts and contractors, and could not place the transformer where it needed to be, even after several attempts.

I would highly recommend Van Dyke Brothers, Inc. for any heavy equipment moves, especially for transformers as they perform only safe, quality work and understand the need for exact placement. They also understand the delicate nature of electrical equipment.

Jerry Hatfield, P.E.

Consulting Engineer

Power Supply Engineering

Kansas City Power & Light Co.

To Whom It May Concern:

I would like to thank Van Dyke for the great job they have been doing all these years at Navajo Generating Station at Page, Arizona.

For Navajo Generating Station, Van Dyke has moved in all 8 Mitsubishi GSU transformers and moved out some of the old Westinghouse GSU transformers. Under my supervision, Van Dyke has moved out unit 1 phase A Westinghouse GSU transformer on Feb., 2011, unit 3 phase A Westinghouse GSU transformer on Feb., 2012, and unit 1 phase C Westinghouse GSU transformer on Feb., 2014, and has moved in all these 3 Mitsubishi GSU transformers as well.

All of this work as been done in an almost perfect way, with the highest quality, and highest safety awareness.

NGS/SRP has hired other vendor companies to move some of the transformers onsite, and the vendor either dropped the transformer by accident, or came to the site and informed us that the transformer was too heavy to move, even though their representative had been onsite and checked everything before the crew came to move.

Employees from Van Dyke are very professional, their technical skill is so high that nobody at Navajo site would worry about work that they are going to do.

Van Dyke is a great company, and Navajo Generating Station has high trust and confidence in them.

If there will be any business opportunity at Navajo Generating Station in the future, Van Dyke will certainly be the 1st Candidate.

Thank you,

Yun Lei

Sr. Electrical Engineer

Navajo Generating Station 

Page, AZ 86040 

As per our conversation today, I wish to commend you and your company in your performance and willingness to go far above and beyond the call of duty regarding Transformer Logistics and Rigging. Following past experiences, numerous utility companies continue to request and even demand your services in their facilities for upcoming projects involving transformer placement throughout the 2008 and 2009 schedule. This further exemplifies your record of safety, attention to detail, customer satisfaction, and overall excellence in the industry. We are truly grateful to have the opportunity to work with someone of your caliber and eagerly await our future projects together.

Sincerely,

William G. Hough

TransLink Inc.

Senior Project Manage

Van Dyke Bros., Inc. has switched out a number of GSU Transformers and large generators for Ameren during the past 15 years. I have had nothing but good experiences working with Van Dyke Bros. They have always demonstrated true professionalism in the heavy hauling and rigging business. Also, I have found them to be very safety conscience. To my knowledge they have never had a single injury or accident while working for any of the Ameren family utility companies. I truly recommend Van Dyke Bros., Inc. as an ethical and reputable company. 

Sincerely,

Robert A. Dill

Ameren Services

I wanted to let you know how pleased Western Resources was with the work performed by Van Dyke Brothers, Inc., when they unloaded two transformers for us this summer. I’ve seen several large transformers unloaded so I know that it can be a difficult, complicated process. But Van Dyke Bros. worked quickly, efficiently and safely, and their works know their jobs so well that they even made the project look easy. They had all the equipment and manpower on-site to do the job right, and in fact unloaded and positioned the 750 transfer in a single morning. We are pleased you choose Van Dyke Bros. and we look forward to working with them in the future. 

Sincerely,

Cindy J. Risch, P.E.

Western Resources

Specialty Engineer

Just a quick note to express our gratitude for the work your crew did here at Fort Calhoun Station. Your company performed in a very professional manner and the movement of all the components went extremely well. In addition, the willingness of your employees to work with the client and their positive attitude was a major reason for the success of this project. Safety in moving the components was always a priority and the use of the side dollies certainly provided an extra safety factor that ensured we would not have any unplanned events. This is the first time that I have seen them used and they were very impressive! Again, thanks for a job well done. Your organization helped to make the Fort Calhoun Outage an ongoing success story.

Sincerely,

Sudesh K. Gambhir

Omaha Public Power District

Division Manager – Nuclear Projects

I have been involved with many different companies that perform all sorts of large construction projects. The performance of Van Dyke Company on this project measures up to or exceeds any I have seen in all my experience. Everyone that has commented to me about Van Dyke Company has nothing but praise to say about their performance and the safe manner in which the company personnel performed this amazing task. I wanted to say thank you to Van Dyke Company for the strong work ethic coupled to the professional and safety conscious performance here at Summer Station. The amount of work, the removal of two main power transformers and precise placement of our new transformer, all without as much as a single first aid case, is a record to be proud of.

Sincerely,

Bill Hicks

Nuclear Operations Training

V.C. Summer Station

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