Putnam County: Power, Paper and River Country

The Seminole generating site

Seminole Electric Cooperative's station occupies roughly 2,000 acres just north of Palatka along US 17. It was built around coal-fired units, and in March 2020 work started on a natural gas combined-cycle facility on less than 20 acres next to them, backed by $727 million in federal loans. The new unit uses two GE 7HA.02 gas turbines, two heat-recovery steam generators and a GE steam turbine, is rated at more than 1,100 megawatts, and was dedicated in September 2023. Seminole planned to retire one coal unit once the gas plant was running.

Building a plant like that brought large crawler cranes, heavy haul and engineered lifts for turbines and HRSG modules. The day-to-day work afterward is steadier: outage support, valve and pump changes, coal-handling and conveyor repair, and eventually demolition of retired equipment. Service-truck cranes and hydraulic cranes run most of it, and outages bring contract crews from across the Southeast.

Lifting on the river and the lakes

The St. Johns is wide, slow and tidal even this far upstream, and the county's waterfront towns rely on docks, boat ramps and bulkheads that need periodic rebuilding. Marine contractors use barge cranes and pile hammers for that work. Inland, the chain of lakes around Interlachen and Melrose has sandy soils that drain fast on top but can hide soft layers underneath.

Sinkholes are part of the geology in this part of north-central Florida. A low spot or crack near your setup area is a reason to stop and ask questions before putting outrigger loads on it.

US 17 runs along the river from Palatka north toward Green Cove Springs and Jacksonville, and it is the route most heavy-haul loads take to the plants. Oversize deliveries on a two-lane highway mean unloading and staging plans that the rigging crew should review before the truck arrives.

Utility and forestry work

Much of rural Putnam is timberland and rights-of-way. Line crews working distribution circuits through those areas often run digger derricks, and OSHA's partial exemption for digger derricks in utility work has limits that are worth understanding before you rely on it. Timber and sawmill operations use knuckle booms and loaders, and some of those operators move into certified crane work when a contractor needs another hand.

Power-line contact remains one of the most serious crane hazards anywhere in Florida. Under 1926.1408, planning starts before the boom goes up, not when it gets close.

Courses that fit Putnam work

• Service Truck Crane Operator for plant maintenance trucks
• Mobile Crane Operator for outage and construction lifts
• Digger Derrick Operator for distribution and co-op line crews
• Signal Person for congested plant areas