Mechanical Technology February 2016

⎪ Special report ⎪

A revolutionary offsite approach to plant projects Following the successful deployment of seven modular ‘buildings’ for the electrical infrastructure at the Kolomela mine, Efficient Engineering has pioneered the offsite construction, assembly, testing and commissioning of complete modular plants similar to as these, which include the containment structures and all functional equipment. MechTech talks to Warwick Jackson (right), now the managing director of Efficient Power and the inspiration behind this new approach.

T he idea underpinning large in- tegrated modular plants arose while Warwick Jackson was the lead electrical engineer for Anglo American – Kumba Iron Ore – SSP on the development of its operations in the Northern Cape. He had been told that it was not feasible to build large substa- tions offsite, because they could not fit into standard ISO shipping containers, making delivery impossible. “After the meeting, I happened to be driving behind a Komatsu 960 haul truck. At 11,6 m wide, I realized that products five times wider than conven- tional ISO containers were being rou- tinely delivered to sites all over Africa,” Jackson says. On discussing his observation with his switchgear colleagues, Jackson was advised to talk to Efficient Engineering. “Johan Basson, who ran RBF at that time, now JB Switchgear, recommended

Efficient, which, he said, was not afraid of size,” he recalls. “That is where my relationship with Efficient began. I met Tony Cimato, the then owner, who showed us how the company made large buildings, control rooms and huge shell structures to house equipment: for shiploaders, e-houses, and reclaimers, for example,” he adds. For Kolomela, Efficient Engineering was willing to build the shells for the sub- stations, motor control centres (MCCs) and control and instrumentation (C&I) rooms as single integrated modules, and fully equip them offsite. “So my staff and I were given an office here at Efficient, where we collaborated to build exactly what we needed for Kolomela. It was a fantastic way of working,” Jackson says. The result was the development of seven ‘buildings’ that met the project requirements for the entire electrical infrastructure needed at Kolomela: for

the primary, secondary and tertiary crushers; the run-of-mine conveyor; the product screen; the load out station; and the dewatering pump station. “It was an amazing success. The modular plants arrived on site 100% commissioned. Our slogan was from motor to mouse. Only once everything was signed off at Efficient Engineering, did we arrange delivery to site. Once there, we connected the power cables and everything worked,” he says. On the Kolomela project, Anglo had a R500-million budget for the electrical and C&I infrastructure. For the seven substations, the building budget was R11‑million. “By taking the offsite modu- lar approach, the shell structures cost close to R15-million, but by the time we had completed the installation, we had under spent our R500-million electrical budget by R83-million,” Jackson says. So by agreeing to spend R4-million

8

Mechanical Technology — February 2016