We’re growing in the French market: emergency power for a Gallic electrical substation in Ghana

At Genesal Energy we’ve just supplied emergency power to an electrical substation in Ghana, an ambicious project by one of the main engineering and construction firms in France.

We’ve provided two symmetrical generator sets which will power a new bitumen plant in this African country if, for whatever reason, the mains power fails.

Our participation in this project is part of our policy of expansion in the Gallic market, detecting its specific needs in order to fully comply with the clients’ requests as well as the regulations established by French, and of course European, legislation.

In the case of Ghana, the project consisted in manufacturing bespoke generator sets for a great bitumen manufacturing plant (bitumen is an essential material in the creation of asphalt agglomerate which is used in the construction of roads, insulation and many other applications).

All bitumen plants make use of complex heating systems during the production of the material and a loss of power can generate important issues and even bring the activity to a halt, as the absence of electricity would cause the solidification of materials and, in consequence, considerable losses.

In extreme cases, an electrical failure can force the substitution of the plant’s piping. The generator sets are also used in these facilities as emergency power for the auxiliary services and lighting with the objective of maximizing safety throughout the property, becoming an essential part of these types of facilities

Technical design

For the Ghana power plant, our engineering team provided a bespoke solution for the client which, from a technical point of view, consisted in the following:
A chassis was designed to support the engine-alternator assembly, comprised of a Perkins 4008-30 TAG3 engine and Mecc Alte ECO43 2L4A alternator, capable of producing 1,250 kVA. Soundproofed in a HC 20 foot container with an air inlet silencer integrated in the container and air outlet silencer attached externally to the container.

In parallel

The generator sets were built to be placed in parallel, with an external 5,000 L fuel tank located between both gensets from which they receive their fuel, respecting security measures. In addition, the access to the control panels can be done from the outside, as they face eachother (the gensets are symmetrical), simplifying the access to the data provided by the control panels of both generator sets.

The operation of these units is prepared so that both can synchronize and supply the sum of the power of both gensets to the loads. They’ve been designed to be flexible when supplying power to the loads, so that the client can start up both generator sets simultaneously from the plant’s control system for the startup of big engines and, afterwards, disable this function so that only one genset remains operative.

This way, the client can arrange for just one genset to operate, for both to operate in parallel, or for both gensets to decide according to the load they’re supporting if one of them can shut down, saving fuel.

Features

• 5,000 L external fuel tank
• Air inlet and outlet silencers