William Coates Ltd has illustrated the company’s ability to provide tailormade electrical solutions by completing an impressive installation at the Full Circle Generation Energy From Waste (EfW) project. As the first facility of its kind in Northern Ireland, it has been designed to generate enough power for over 21,000 households and recover energy from the waste created by over 155,000 Northern Ireland households.
Located directly behind Belfast City Airport and Bombardier Aerospace’s C-Series Factory, the £107m Full Circle EfW facility is capable of generating 15MWe of electricity at 11kV, which will then be stepped up to 33kV for export to the grid. 10MW will be exported via Bombardier’s HV infrastructure and 5Mw will be exported via a new connection to the Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) grid. This will go a long way to ensuring Northern Ireland’s renewable energy targets are met while also meeting the extensive energy requirements of Bombardier.
Gary Coleman, Director at William Coates, commented, “This is a hugely important infrastructure project in Northern Ireland and we are proud to have played our part in it. As the first facility of its kind in Northern Ireland, the Full Circle Generation EfW project offered us a wide range of challenges but once again we were able to utilise our experience to provide a bespoke solution.
“While we are expanding across Great Britain, this project is another example of the high quality projects that we continue to deliver in Northern Ireland and highlights the importance of the province to our company.” The Full Circle Generation EfW facility marked the first project for William Coates for Contracts Manager, David Hume.
“It was a tough and challenging project for a wide range of reasons, particularly co-ordinating with the other trades on site,” he explained.
“We played a key role at every stage of the project, starting with the design process right through to final commissioning.”
William Coates was responsible for three key elements on this project -HV Infrastructure works; process wiring; and control wiring to streams 1, 2 and 3 – all of which offered a distinctive challenge. This system consists of the Installation of two 33kV ABB switchboards, HV LV ELV cabling and associated earthing system. The switchboards are located in the newly built intermediate sub-station alongside the associated control panels. William Coates re-diverted the existing NIE HV supplies into the new switchgear and jointed the existing cabling into the 33KV/6.6KV transformers. The company also installed two 33KV cables, consisting of 1,200 metres each, to the new 33KV/11KV transformers located within the new EfW site.
The HV was a design and build contract. William Coates was responsible for all aspects of the high voltage package and managed the design, installation and commissioning of the system. As well as taking control of the ABB switchgear order, the company had a local panel building company build the associated control panels. William Coates also carried out the lightning protection system and earth mat at the new intermediate sub-station. The installation of all low voltage 230v-400v AC cabling for the process streams from the MCCs (Motor Control Centres) and feeding pumps, motors, cooling fans, conveyors and screws – all of which are vital links in the chain of the generation process. Some of these works were carried out at heights exceeding 20 metres, which introduced its own difficulties.
The control and instrumentation package involved the installation of all MCC control cabling, for the process equipment on the streams; the PILZ safety system, including emergency stops; and the installation of instrument control cabling to devices including pressure switches and temperature sensors.
To ensure a high level of quality was achieved, William Coates implemented an ITP (Inspection Test Plan) for the project. At the peak of the project, the company employed more than 50 site operatives. Due to this and the ever-changing site set- up, health and safety was difficult to manage, with RAMS frequently reviewed and used David concluded, “While we have worked on HV projects before, this was to a greater scale than usual, as was the size of the entire project.
We were up against a tight schedule and with so many trades working on site at the same time, we held meetings twice a day to co-ordinate work. All this attention-to- detail proved essential to the success of the project.”
William Coates Ltd, 37 Mallusk Road, Newtownabbey
T: 0044 (0)28 9034 2560
E: info@williamcoates.com
W: www.williamcoates.com
