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| Davis Odell “Davey” Knox, 56, of Blanchard, died Monday, October 16, 2017, in Covington, Oklahoma |
Davey Knox
October 01, 1961 - October 16, 2017
Davis Odell “Davey” Knox, 56, of Blanchard, died Monday, October 16, 2017, in Covington, Oklahoma. The son of Lester Dee Knox and Lois Lavelle (Sims) Knox, he was born October 1, 1961 in Lawton, Oklahoma.
He graduated from Dibble High School in 1979 and worked many years in the construction industry. Davey married Kathryn Louise “Kitty” McKinney on October 20, 1979 in Harrah. He was a member of the First Baptist Church in Blanchard. In his spare time, he enjoyed raising pigs, fishing, and hunting. Davey’s greatest enjoyment was spending time with family and spoiling his grandkids.
He was preceded in death by his father and one sister, Debbie Hallmark Whitehead. Davey is survived by his wife, Kitty Knox, of Blanchard; two sons, Jeremy Knox and his wife, Alycia, of Maysville and Eli Knox and his wife, Chelsea, of Wanette; five grandchildren, Rowdy, K’La, Weston, Gracie, and TynLee; his mother, Lavelle Knox, of Blanchard; sister and brother-in-law, Sharon and Warren “Jonesy” Lancaster of Yukon; sister, Linda Knox of Blanchard; and many other loved ones and friends.==========================
A construction contractor was killed around 10 a.m. Monday while working at the solar farm project near Covington.
Garfield County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Logan Niles identified the victim as Davis Knox of Blanchard born in October 1961.
Niles said emergency services were dispatched to the construction site at 10:07 a.m. Monday at the 20000 block of East Longhorn Road.
“Upon arrival, they located a male subject pinned underneath the trenching machine,” Niles said. “He was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Niles said the investigation is ongoing but that Knox may have tripped or his clothing got caught on the machine and pulled him under. There were no witnesses to the accident.
“Moss & Associates is deeply saddened by the death of a BJ’s Oilfield Construction contractor working on site at the Covington solar project this morning," said Jeanmarie Ferrara, executive vice president for Wragg & Casas Strategic Communications in Miami.
Moss & Associates is a construction firm headquartered in Florida. Ferrara said the job site has been shut down.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the man’s family to whom we offer our full support at this extremely difficult time. Counseling support has been made available to any colleagues and staff affected by this tragedy," Ferrara said. "We are fully cooperating with the OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) investigation,” she said.
SunPower and OG&E Electric Services are constructing a 10-megawatt solar photovoltaic power plant north of Covington located southeast of the intersection of Longhorn Trail and Highway 74.
Calls made to both SunPower and OG&E were not returned Monday.
The two companies signed a contract to build the plant last July, and plan to have it operational by early 2018.
SunPower will be responsible for operation and maintenance of the plant, which sits on 80 acres of land, said OG&E Corporate Communications Manager Kathleen O'Shea in July. The plant will produce enough energy to power about 1,000 homes.
Cost for the plant is about $15 million to $18 million. Covington was chosen for reasons including "high solar irradiance and minimal shadowing issues."
B.J.'s Oilfield Construction, Inc.
B.J.'s was founded by Billy Graham and Frank White in December, 1983, with operations headquartered in Blanchard, Oklahoma. Billy and Frank came into the business with over twenty years of experience in oilfield maintenance, construction and sales; gas plant maintenance and operations, pipeline maintenance and construction; heavy equipment operations and general construction.
B. J.'s is a twenty-four hour, seven day-a-week operation with 21 employees. A majority of our work includes roust-a-bouts, trucks, heavy equipment operations, pipeline and maintenance for both new and existing oilfield operations. Types of work include well and tank battery installations, pipeline construction and installation, leak repair and clean-up, location and road building and maintenance, and gas plant repair and maintenance.===================
Solar plant to be built near Covington
Brigette Waltermire | Enid News & Eagle
July 20, 2017
These solar energy panels are similar to what will be used at a 10-megawatt solar photovoltaic power plant to be built near Covington. SunPower | Photo provided
COVINGTON, Okla. — SunPower and OG&E Electric Services plan to start construction next month on a 10-megawatt solar photovoltaic power plant near Covington.
The two companies signed a contract to build the plant Tuesday, and plan to have it operational by early 2018, according to the SunPower press release.
Photovoltaic power panels turn sunlight into electricity at an atomic level, thereby generating electrons. More information can be found at https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2002/solarcells.
The PV panels at the Covington site will rotate to follow the sun throughout the day, said Kathleen O’Shea, OG&E corporate communications manager.
SunPower produces the technology that allows the panels to track the sun, said James Diven, SunPower director.
SunPower also will be responsible for operation and maintenance of the plant, which will sit on 80 acres, said O'Shea. The 10-megawatt plant will create enough electricity to serve approximately 1,000 homes, according to a SunPower press release.
The cost to build the plant is around $15 million to $18 million, O'Shea said, and the Covington site was chosen for a variety of reasons, including "high solar irradiance and minimal shadowing issues."
The site will create about 75 jobs during peak construction of the plant, said Diven. He said the company also has seen that solar power plant construction helps create “economic development in the form of increased commerce for local businesses and suppliers and tax revenues.”
SunPower has 3 gigawatts of solar plants operating internationally, according to its website. One gigawatt is about what 100 million LED bulbs would consume, and what about 4.6 million photovoltaic panels would produce, according to energy.gov.
O’Shea said OG&E built a solar farm near Mustang in 2015, and the Covington location plant is an extension of the company’s project for solar power. The response of OG&E customers to the pilot program in Mustang, which offered customers a chance to get a percentage of their electricity on their bill marked as solar power, was what helped OG&E decide to establish another farm, O’Shea said.
“Now we’re going to learn even more about solar power,” O’Shea said.
She said the first data the company received from the Mustang solar farm showed a production graph that looked like a bell curve throughout the day, with low points in the morning and evening and peaks during the middle of the day; but, closer looks at the hours and minutes showed that different weather and light conditions can impact production, such as clouds passing over the sun having a negative impact on production by the minute or a really bright full moon generating some energy throughout the night.
The electricity generated by the plant will add an additional 10 megawatts to the supply, O’Shea said. OG&E currently has about 6,800 megawatts of capacity that comes through a variety of fuel types, which are broken down on their website.
The panels will be cleaned by robots, which Diven said uses 75 percent less water to clean panels than other methods, and regular cleaning can help to increase energy output.