Culzean is a UK offshore facility located in the North Sea, 140 miles off the coast of Aberdeen. The gas condensate field can meet up to 5% of the United Kingdom’s gas demand. Our engineers commissioned three Siemens STG300 Gas Turbine Generators on the Culzean Platform. Commissioning services for the three GTGs included both onshore static testing of the generators and the subsequent offshore dynamic commissioning.
At Gradient Power Ltd. we come across many interesting projects requiring bespoke design and implementation. The Generator Control Panels upgrade at Boots Plc. in Nottingham was one such project. Our engineers conducted a site survey, recommissioned the control panels with modern upgrades of the excitation and protection systems, completed a new connection agreement with the Distribution Network Operator and carried out power quality measurements to calculate an optimal operating power factor for the generators.
Taking a lead commissioning role in substation projects is always a rewarding experience, requiring a proactive whole-system approach and collaboration with a number of different interested parties. Our engineer helped to deliver a major expansion project at Urenco UK, which is a nuclear enrichment facility in Cheshire important to the UK’s nuclear power industry. The project included a new 132kV mesh corner, one Gridyard transformer and two brand new 11kV substations.
Sagar Samrat is an offshore oil rig owned by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, ONGC. It was India’s first oil drilling rig, built in 1973. The platform was recommissioned in 2019 at GPC shipyard in Abu Dhabi, UAE before sailing away to the west coast of India, 145km off the coast of Mumbai. It is an ultra-deepwater rig capable of drilling at depths of up to 12km. Our engineer commissioned the two Siemens SGT300 Gas Turbine Generators which provide power to the rig, whilst onshore in Abu Dhabi.
We work on a broad range of high-voltage switchgear installed in various critical facilities around the world, including data centres, network substations and offshore rigs. One of the more interesting locations we have worked is 22 Bishopsgate, a 62-floor skyscraper in the heart of the City of London’s financial district. Our engineers commissioned the basement-level 33kV and 11kV switchboards which supply power to the 278m tall building.
Energy-from-waste incineration plants are becomingly increasingly essential in the UK for both residential waste management and renewable power generation. Consequently, plant issues can lead not only to loss of export, but also diversion of waste to landfill. We investigated a protection maloperation at one such facility, which had resulted in a site blackout. Our engineer provided a root-cause analysis report, electrical fault level and coordination studies, and helped to recommission the steam turbine generator.
