BAE Systems said in December that it received a $158 million U.S. Army contract modification to design, build and commission a natural gas-fired steam facility at the Holston Army Ammunition Plant, an Army-owned, contractor-operated site in Kingsport, Tennessee.

The project will replace an existing coal-fired power supply in an effort to modernize the installation’s operations and reduce its environmental impacts.

In an August 2018 filing with Tennessee environmental regulators, BAE said that the first phase of the proposed multi-phase project would include installing four 327 million British thermal units per hour (MMBtu/hr) natural gas and oil-fired boilers. Phase I would also include retiring four existing coal-fired boilers once the new boilers enter service, expected in 2021.

BAE Systems has been the operating contractor of the plant since 1999, developing explosives for military and commercial applications. BAE is a British multinational defense, security and aerospace company.