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ENERGY INTERNATIONAL
February/March 2012 www.esb.ie/em
major transmission and distribution project for ESBI in Tanzania. “It’s a fast track learning curve – I’ve learned more in two years working on this project than I did in 10 years in Ireland - and now that it’s on my CV, no one can take that away from me.”
Jonathan Cosgrove postponed his wedding for a year to take up a position in Kulim where ESBI operates and maintains a small utility that services a high tech. business park. He said, “At Kulim I had to take on responsibilities that were out of my comfort zone and that I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do at home. It’s hard to be away from your family and friends, but it’s definitely been worth it for my career.”
John Gibbons and his wife Roberta Kelly both work for ESBI in the Kingdom of Bahrain where they had their first baby last year. John says his move there gave him the opportunity to gain new experiences, develop his CV and see the world. He is one of thousands of ex-pats living and working in Bahrain, and trains with the local GAA club several times a week. “If I’d known that there was a GAA Club in Bahrain before I went there, my decision would have been a lot easier!”
Climate change agreement reached in Durban
Page 25
Successful overhauls at Midlands Peat Stations
LAST YEAR saw the successful completion of corrosion remediation works at West Offaly Power (150MW) and Lough Ree Power (100MW) stations, works that involved two major overhauls in 2010 and 2011 and that saw more than 400,000 man-hours worked without a lost time incident (LTI).
The peat stations, located in Shannonbridge and Lanesborough, use conventional steam plant with modern fluidised-bed technology to burn peat. They were commissioned in 2004/2005 and temporarily ceased operation to facilitate Foster Wheeler, the original turnkey contractor, to upgrade boiler tube material to address corrosion problems.
The extensive works involved reheater and superheater tube replacement, as well as air-heater replacements and flue-gas path repairs. The opportunity was also taken to complete a mid-life turbine refurbishment and to carry out extensive works on the fuel and materials handling plant. These works solved the corrosion problems at both plants as well as completing necessary routine maintenance.
The two overhauls were a huge success and, since the completion of works, increased performance and efficiency have been measured in both plants. Both overhauls were achieved ahead of schedule and under budget due to the great commitment and effort of the project team, which had the full support and assistance from all staff at the peat stations, in particular the many staff who stepped up as contract managers for the duration of the overhauls.
Safety was the highest priority on the project and a number of initiatives were undertaken to ensure zero LTIs. Both overhauls kicked off with a safety conference held off-site where the Health & Safety Plan was presented to staff and contractors by Ronan O’Flynn, Project Manager for the 2010 outage, and Shane Cooney, Project Manager for the 2011 outage. Peat Stations Manager Jerry McKenna also made presentations on ESB’s safety requirements and expectations.
Near-miss reporting was seen as key to continued learning and making safety improvements and a weekly draw was held for all personnel who had submitted good catch reports. This initiative proved very popular with staff and certainly led to a safer workplace with many of the improvements made having originated as suggestions by staff and contractors.
A lessons - learned process ensured improvements which were carried out during and after the Lough Ree 2010 outage were also undertaken for the West Offaly 2011 works. During a surprise Health and Safety Authority inspection during the 2011 outage, the two inspectors noted and complimented the high standard of safety.
Generation Operations Manager Nicholas Tarrant said, “The successful completion of both outages at West Offaly and Lough Ree will play an important part in delivering our target of over 90% availability in 2012. I particularly congratulate all involved on the excellent safety record during such major works, and delivering both outages on time and within budget serves as a benchmark for future major overhauls.”
