Power plant products |
Wärtsilä strikes gold in Senegal
Wärtsilä is to supply the engines and auxiliary equipment for a power plant being installed at the Boto gold mine in Senegal. The order has been placed by Africa Power Services, the France–based main contractor for the engineering, procurement and construction of the power plant. The mine has been recently acquired by Managem, an international mining group with operations in eight countries across Africa.
The mine is remotely located and has no direct connection to the grid. The 17 MW power plant, operating with with six Wärtsilä 32 engines will therefore be delivered as a fast-track project on an engineered equipment (EEQ) basis. “The configuration provides good flexibility and optimal performance of the power plant under varied load demands. “Wärtsilä has a strong presence in Africa with its regional setup in Dakar effectively supporting the customers’ operations throughout the lifecycle of their power plants,” commented Sameer Poredi, business development manager, Lifecycle, at Wärtsilä Energy.
The type 32 engine generating set has established a reputation for reliability during 30 years of operations, says Wärtsilä, delivering more than 8000 MW of capacity to customers around the world. The equipment deliveries are scheduled to be completed by December 2024, and the plant is expected to be commissioned during Q1, 2025.
medium utility-scale applications
SolarEdge Technologies has announced the UK launch of its high-power TerraMax solar inverter combined with H1300 power optimisers. The new SE330K inverter is available now for pre-order, with shipments expected to start in early 2025. Targeting small-to-medium utility scale PV installations, the system is said to be suitable for varied topologies and challenging site conditions, ideal for ground mounted sites on sloped, uneven, or irregular shaped terrains, and dual use sites for applications such as floating PV and Agri-PV (agrivoltaics) with trackers. The inverter incorporates SolarEdge’s advanced module level power electronics (MLPE), that is claimed to include higher energy yields by overcoming module mismatch and shading losses – particularly common in bi-facial modules
44 | October 2024|
www.modernpowersystems.com
and vertical PV – and advanced built-in safety features, as well as design flexibility. The solution will be powered by the new SolarEdge ONE energy optimisation platform, with module-level monitoring and PV fleet management (to reduce site visits), increased system uptime and lower O&M costs.
The new optimised utility solution is designed to increase solar energy production through 99% inverter efficiency, 200% DC-oversizing and an integrated night-time PID rectifier. The design supports up to 80-module string lengths, and should require less cabling and overall equipment. This can lead to reducing balance–of– system costs by up to 50%. Pre-commissioning also allows early system validation of components and wiring, prior to AC connection.
New inverter for
World’s first heavy-lift drone operations at offshore WTGs
Ørsted is deploying heavy-lift cargo drones (HLCDs) for the first time in an operational campaign at the Borssele offshore wind farm in the Dutch North Sea. This is thought to be the first use of such drones in the industry, and Ørsted believes it marks a significant leap forward in operational efficiency and safety. The drone will transport cargo from a vessel to all 94 wind turbines of the two Borssele arrays. Ørsted is using the 70 kg drones – which have a wingspan of 2.6 metres – to transport cargo of up to 100kg, following trials last year when the concept was tested at the Hornsea 1 offshore wind farm in the UK.
For this specific campaign, Ørsted decided to update some critical evacuation and safety equipment in each of the turbines. Usually, a vessel would sail from one wind turbine to the next, using a crane to lift each box containing the equipment onto the transition piece, after which the box would be lifted with the nacelle’s crane
to reach the nacelle and then be moved to the top of the turbine. Instead, the drone will simply fly back and forth from an offshore supply vessel directly to the top of the nacelle. The drone flight from the vessel to the turbine takes about four minutes per turbine, while the conventional approach without using drones can take approx. six hours. Taking vessel transport between the turbines and from-and-to shore into account, Ørsted has been able to complete the tasks at Borssele 10-15 times faster than traditional methods.
The use of drones to deliver cargo to Borssele 1 and 2 will reduce costs and time as well as improve operational safety and efficiency. Use of drones causes less work disturbance as wind turbines do not have to be shut down when cargo is delivered. They prevent risk, making it safer for personnel working on the wind farm, and they minimise the need for multiple journeys by ship, reducing carbon emissions in the process.
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