Around the world and back again

Rory Hynes can restore anything so long as there’s a solid foundation. If not, he’s quite content to build that too. Craftsmanship is in his blood – whether refurbishing Victorian houses for fun or building powerhouses for clients worldwide.

Rory earned his B.Eng. Mechanical in 1968 from University College in Dublin, Ireland, and is a member of the Associations of Professional Engineers of New Brunswick and Ontario. He has 36 years experience in power generation and cogeneration plants in the areas of development planning, project management and engineering, contract negotiation and management, power purchase agreement negotiations, fuel supply contracts, construction and commissioning, troubleshooting, plant modifications, operation and maintenance. His experience also includes fossil fuels evaluation (gas, oil and coal), process system design, steam generator and flue gas treatment equipment specification, evaluation and selection. Rory’s projects include utility and independent power projects in power production, grid connected cogeneration plants, captive power and cogeneration plants for light metals smelters, a bauxite refinery as well as iron and steel facilities.

Rory’s never been one to turn down an opportunity for working adventures in some remarkable places.

In the early 1980s, he was an independent engineer for a financial institution conducting a study for pipeline development from the Amadeus Basin in the Australian Outback to Darwin on the northern coast. The outcome was the combined-cycle Channel Island plant which opened in 1986. Nearly two decades later, he worked on another Australian assignment, this time as part of the Hatch team on the cogeneration plant for the Worlsey Alumina Expansion project.

In 1984 he landed in Jakarta where he learned to speak Indonesian to participate in an integrated project team with the local utility PLN for the completion of Suralaya Units 1 and 2 and the engineering-construction-commissioning phase of Suralaya Units 3 and 4.

He also worked as Project Manager for an independent power project based in Canada and Delhi for the development of an 800-MW power plant in Uttar Pradesh, India, and for a World Bank team in Jamaica for the restoration decision process arising from the catastrophic failure of Old Harbour #4.

Closer to what he now calls home, he was Project Manager for a fast-track emergency power plant rated at 110 MW installed in Cobourg, Ontario, in 2003. The project was given a go-ahead on June 9 of that year and was in service by August 10. It was one of the few plants that ran through the blackout of 2003 (the largest in North America’s history) and during the two-week recovery period.

Rory joined our organization in 2001 and has been responsible primarily for feasibility studies and thermal power project development, including:

• Development initiatives for strategic deployment of coal-based, integrated-gasification, combined-cycle applications with production of other products such as metals and chemicals
• Conceptual study for captive 500-MW coal and by-product gas-fired power plant for a large greenfield steel plant project in India
• Consultant to developer for proposed new 2 x 500-MW coal-fired generation plant in western Canada on technologies selection and input to the environmental impact assessment
• Development of options for eastern US client’s strategic plan for extended use of existing asset with locational advantage in large city including repowering, nitrous oxide reduction and thermal discharge reduction to major river.

Rory and his wife of 36 years are now planted firmly in Oakville, Ontario. His two grown children live in Toronto, leaving plenty of room at home for his tools – which he’ll soon be dusting off to restore a 150-year-old house with his daughter. You see, craftsmanship really is in his blood.

For further information, please contact:

Rory Hynes
Global Practice Director, Thermal Power Technologies
Hatch Energy, Oakville, ON
905-469-3400
rhynes@hatchenergy.com