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ENERGY INTERNATIONAL

Aug/Sept 2011 www.esb.ie/em

ESBI takes leading role at PAC World Conference

ESB International

ESBI TOOK A leading role in organising the second Protection, Automation and Control (PAC) World Conference, which took place in Trinity College, Dublin from Monday to Thursday June 27th to 30th.

ESBI’s Clare Duffy and Mick Mackey were part of the organising committee and ESBI was the official WiFi sponsors of the conference.

Clare Duffy, who was Chairperson of the organising committee, expressed delight that delegates from 39 countries attended the conference in Dublin to hear papers from authors from 25 countries “Protection, automation and control of electric power systems is an exciting area of engineering as the industry strives to develop smarter systems to cope with the operating challenges from distributed generation, renewables, interconnection, increased electricfication of transport and heat, and changing consumer behaviour,” she said. “We believe that bringing engineering professionals together in forums such as the PACWorld conference will help drive us towards succesful and reliable power system development and operations.”

The conference was opened by the editor-in-chief of PAC World magazine, Dr Alexander Apostolov and the keynote address was given by Dr John Fitzgerald from Ireland’s Economic and Social Research Institute, with the first session of the conference being chaired by Mick Mackey.

Clare Duffy, ESBI and Chairperson of PAC World’s organising committee, welcomes delegates to the conference dinner which took place in the Guinness Storehouse.

A total of 78 papers were presented during the event including one co-written by Fergus Malone and Paul D Doyle, from ESBI’s Power Systems Studies group. Their paper, Evaluation of Alternative Back-up Protection Schemes for a 66kV Distribution Network. Outlined the various options for implementing a back-up protection scheme on a non-standard section of a client’s 66kV distribution network. To read the full paper, please visit http://www.esbi.ie/news/white-papers.asp.

Others from ESBI/ESB Networks who were involved with the conference included ESBI’s Dr Eamonn Duggan and ESB Networks’ Denis O’Leary, who both chaired panel sessions. ESB Networks also presented a paper that outlined the results emerging from their smart grid demonstration project.

Tánaiste visits ESBI project in Tanzania

ESB International

DURING HIS RECENT trip to Tanzania, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore TD visited a rural electrification scheme that is being project managed by ESBI. ESBI is working on behalf of the US-funded Millennium Challenge Account - Tanzania (MCA-T) Energy Project under a four-year contract valued at $20 million (€14.2 million).

Under the contract, ESBI is acting as consultant engineer and construction contract supervisor for a number of energy infrastructure projects that will improve the supply of electricity to homes and businesses across Tanzania and Zanzibar.

Projects include the construction of a submarine cable from mainland Tanzania to Zanzibar Island, extensions and upgrades to the electricity transmission and distribution systems, feasibility and technical documentation preparation for bid purposes of a 12MW hydro power plant on the Malagarasi River, Western Tanzania and a capacity building programme for staff from the two local utilities, Tanesco (Tanzania) and ZECO (Zanzibar).

Tanzania has a very low penetration of electricity, with less than 15% of the population connected to the national grid. Many of the country’s residents and businesses depend on non-grid connected. small-scale diesel generators for their electricity needs. A key objective of the MCA-T Energy Project is to bring electricity to remote rural areas of the country.

ESBI has a long association with Tanzania dating back to 1977 when it was appointed by the World Bank and the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs to deliver a training programme to staff in Tanesco. Since then, it has been involved in a number of commercial and charitable initiatives in the country.

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eamon Gilmore T.D. pictured with ESBI staff and contractors during his recent visit to Tanzania.

The Tánaiste’s visit came on the third day of his visit to Tanzania, which also included a meeting with the USA Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.

Innovative new career for ex Aghada man

A FORMER EMPLOYEE of ESB Aghada, now retired, Martin Murray has branched into an unusual business since leaving the company.

Martin holds an airline pilot’s licence and, at one time, took leave of absence from ESB for a year in the USA to upgrade his flying skills to jet-planes. Being a bit of a ‘home-bird’ and wishing to develop a more local pursuit, Martin, who is also Mayor of Whitegate Village, decided to fill a gap in the tourism market.

Since leaving ESB Martin had started a Hovercraft Touring and Transportation Service talking tourists around Cork Harbour. http://www.geolocation.ws/v/W/4d8bcf3887865604e5007e84/whitegate-bay-the-hovercraft-offers/en and has been doing so for several years until recently. However, this year Martin decided to revert to the standard method of boating transport and has he has invested in a 40-foot cruiser that will soon be on-hire to passengers for trips to Cobh and around the historic Cork Harbour.

Lough Ree Power Rescue Exercise

Generation Operations

IN CONJUNCTION WITH Lanesborough and Longford Fire Service and Rope Rescue Team, Lough Ree Power held a very successful evacuation drill and rescue exercise on Tuesday June 28th.

The station has an excellent relationship with the local fire service who use the site on a regular basis for their drills and training sessions. Having a fire station in the town means that the response time to the power station is approximately seven minutes, for most emergencies.

For the latest exercise, the scene was set with a casualty (a mannequin) having fallen from a height and being suspended in a harness. Lanesborough Fire Service, which includes three members of the Longford County Rope Rescue Team, was first on the scene. They made the area safe and began setting up equipment for the rest of the Longford Rope Rescue team who were on their way to the scene. On arrival of the remainder of the team, two members abseiled the building, stabilised the casualty and successfully brought him to ground level where he was administered first aid and prepared for transfer by ambulance to hospital.

The drill continued with a demonstration of a confined space rescue and the entire exercise was captured on video for training purposes.

Members of the Lanesboro and Longford Fire Service and Rope Rescue Team pictured with Seamus Finn, Safety Services Officer, Lough Ree Power (right).

Two members of the Rope Rescue Team abseiling to reach the casualty.

Two members of the Rope Rescue Team abseiling to reach the casualty.

ESBEI Inaugural Coaching Workshop

The ESBEI Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) team came together for a two-day team coaching workshop on 20th and 21st June. Tasked with analysing future options for low carbon generation for ESB, the team is made up of specialists from a range of business units and different locations across ESBEI. The two days represented an opportunity for the team to explore common ground, challenge goals, roles and working methodology and ultimately agree their team purpose and focus. All of the team found this a valuable and energising experience and had quite a bit of fun in the process. Facilitated by two of ESBEI’s panel of internal coaches, Orla Maher and Derek Fuller, this is the first of a number of team coaching initiatives which will be rolled out across ESB. Pictured (left to right): Niall O’Boyle, Bernadine Maloney, Michael Colley, Fionn Griffin, Ben Wallace, Orla Maher, Internal Coach’ Donnchadh Irish, Sinéad Treanor, John Boylan, Josh Taylor and Derek Fuller, Internal Coach.