Energyst - Supplying the Nation with Power Generation & Temperature Control Solutions
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Shell Ireland Brochure
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Professional tunnellers demand powerful partners Energyst is the total solutions provider with a track record to prove it The construction of a tunnel is an extremely complex and demanding engineering task. It not only requires the right expertise and equipment, but also the right partners are needed. In such a complex process the guaranteed supply of sufficient power is a prerequisite for success. As Energyst Cat Rental Power CEO Gary Smith reveals, ‘With our experience in Spain, UK, Ireland and Germany we know what it takes to deliver’. Whether you are only tunnelling four meters below a busy city centre or drilling your way through thousands of m3 of silt far away from civilisation, a guaranteed supply of power is an absolute must. However, a fixed connection to an existing power grid is not always possible. As a tunneller, you want to focus on the complex job at hand and not worry about the power supply to the TBM and all the back-up system equipment such as conveyors, slurry pipelines or ventilation mechanisms. In these cases, power generation rental can be a solution. Energyst, a Cat rental company, has extensive experience with the challenges of tunnelling and the unique requirements that come with it. Reliability number one priority When it comes to power, the importance of a professional partner is critical. ‘We were involved in tunnelling projects in
several countries and, regardless of the geological conditions or the applied tunnelling technique, we know the stakes are high’, Gary confirms. ‘No power means no drilling and no drilling means costly delays. As a Caterpillar company, we are conscious that reliability is the number one priority. That is why we offer tailored project packages that can assure that reliability. And of course, using reliable equipment from a partner that understands your needs is crucial. The impressive Energyst fleet offers an extensive range of modern Caterpillar power generation equipment especially designed to meet the performance demands required.’ Your total solutions provider But when it comes to supporting and facilitating tunnellers, simply ‘delivering’ the power is just not good enough. According to Gary Smith, the key to
success is adding value right from the start all the way up to the completion of the project. ‘Customisation is key because all tunnelling projects are different. This means we need to be flexible and come Corrib Onshore Pipeline Tunnel BAM Civil Ltd and Wayss & Freytag Ingenieurbau AG will construct a 4.9km tunnel as part of the Corrib gas project, the largest energy infrastructure development in Ireland in 2012. The tunnel, which will be constructed beneath an estuary on the north-west coast of Ireland, is a key element of the onshore pipeline works. A TBM with an internal diameter of 3.5 metres will be used for the work and this is expected to arrive on site during the summer. Tunnelling is scheduled to start towards the end of the year and is expected to take around 15 months to complete. Energyst is responsible for providing the power. Energyst’s Ireland & European Team, led by Regional Manager John McKenna, handled the demanding consultation relating to the project’s power requirement and will be supplying up to 7mVA at 20kV at the project’s peak. Eight 810 kVA generators are being installed as part of an increased reliability package complete with load-follow supply, on-demand redundancy and remote monitoring functionality. The ambitious Shell Petroleum project is environmentally sensitive with a stringent focus on Health & Safety and has given Energyst an excellent opportunity to demonstrate our ability in meeting and exceeding demanding conditions in this field.
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The Power Behind the Solutions Energyst Rental Solutions set the standards for reliability, technological innovation and fuel efficiency. Our generators and temperature control products have been specifically developed for us by Caterpillar and provide superior performance and reliability for large projects as well as small.
up with turnkey solutions every single time. For example, we support the BAM/Wayss & Freytag JV in the construction of the Corrib Onshore Tunnel by using eight 810 kVA generators instead of fewer generators with a larger capacity. This to meet specific load demands and efficiency specifications.’ Energyst offers solutions not only when it comes to hardware. Gary Smith continues, ‘It is all about service as well. We have an outstanding track record when it comes to our 24/7 call-out facility and our 24/7 remote and early warning alarm telemetry. If needed, we educate local employees to perform maintenance or preventative readings reporting. We thrive to achieve a real partnership with our clients and offer solutions with regard to all parts of the power supply, from engineering and design, through transportation and installation to maintenance and completion, all in a safe and environmentally responsible manner.’
It is still a people business Despite high level CAT factory design and build involvement, the power rental business is very much a people business. ‘This is not any different from the tunnelling industry’, Gary Smith explains. ‘Our dedicated people are defined by their ‘Can do’ Spirit and that is an absolute must in this line of work. They understand the customer demands and are always willing to go the extra mile. All our people are real experts and passionate about their job. This is shown by the excellent work they perform all around the world.’
Energyst has recently released a new line of super efficient chillers and power generators which offer even greater fuel and electricity efficiencies for long running projects. These products, as with most of our range, also come with unique innovations making them highly adaptable and suitable for a diverse range of applications in both the public and private sectors.
For more information, please call us on:
057 86 63763 Email: info.ire@energyst.com Website: www.energyst.com
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Shell Ireland
In spite of the many challenges along the way, construction of the Corrib gas project in North Mayo – which is set to continue until late 2014 – is providing hundreds of jobs in a small community, as well as availing of the expertise of a wide variety of local, national and international contractors. It will also contribute e1.6Bn to Ireland’s GDP throughout the complete construction phase, and will meet up to 60% of the country’s gas needs when producing The development of the Corrib Natural Gas field has been the single biggest infrastructural project in the West of Ireland. From an engineering, construction and regulatory perspective, it has also been one of the most challenging. The project itself is made up of four parts: (i) the subsea facilities at the Corrib field, (ii) the offshore pipeline, (iii) the onshore pipeline and (iv), the Bellanaboy Bridge Gas Terminal, which is the major construction element in the overall development spread over a 32-acre site. Work on three of these elements is practically complete. The subsea facilities are in place with five wells drilled and ready to go into production. The Bellanaboy Bridge Gas Terminal is substantially complete and is currently being maintained until gas flows from the field. The offshore pipeline was laid
in the summer of 2009, with only the control umbilical to be laid alongside it next year. The fourth and final section is the onshore pipeline, on which work commenced in July of last year. The onshore pipeline is 8.9km in length and will connect the offshore pipe at the landfall in Glengad to the terminal. Included in the final phase is a 4.6km tunnel under Sruwaddacon Bay – a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and a Special Protected Area (SPA). The tunnel is yet another exciting and challenging element of the overall development. It will have an internal diameter of 3.5m and will be built using precision precast segments. A speciallyconstructed tunnel boring machine (TBM), named Fionnuala, will be used to excavate the tunnel which will take approximately 15 months to complete. It will run at depths of
between 5.5m and 12m under the bay. Once the pipeline and ancillary services are laid the tunnel will be grouted and closed. The offshore context The Corrib gas development has been a marathon journey. The field was discovered in 1996 by Enterprise Oil, an independent London-based oil and gas exploration company. The Corrib field was the first important gas find in the Irish offshore for almost 25 years, following on from the Kinsale Head field. Kinsale Head was discovered 50km off the coast of Cork in a water depth of 90m and was developed as an offshore production facility Kinsale remains the single biggest hydrocarbon discovery in Ireland. It began production in 1978 and reached peak > At peak construction there were more than 1,100 employed on the Corrib gas terminal. Photo shows a number of the workforce as the terminal nears completion.
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production in 1995. The field is now in decline and only meets approximately 3% of Ireland’s current gas demand. With an estimated yield of 840 billion cubic feet of gas (Goodbody 2012), Corrib is approximately two-thirds the size of Kinsale. In industry terms it is a medium-sized field. It has a sweet, dry gas containing 95% methane, making it a simple enough process to treat to the standard required by Bord Gáis Éireann. When it comes on stream (end 2014/early 2015) it will meet up to 60% of Ireland’s gas demand and will remain in production for 15 to 20 years. The Corrib Gas Partners are Shell E&P Ireland Limited (SEPIL) 45%, Statoil 35.5% and Vermilion 18.5%. The terminal In October 2006, the Corrib Gas Partners returned to the Bellanaboy site and work on the construction of the terminal commenced. One of the first construction challenges was the removal of 350,000 tonnes of peat from the terminal to the deposition site at Srahmore. Prior to the cessation of work in 2005, 100,000 tonnes had been removed, but there had been problems. While the site was shut down, Mayo County Council, funded by the project, strengthened and realigned sections of the haul route. A programme of driver training was put in place and when the second stage of removal commenced, in April 2007, the operation involving 20,000 round trips and nearly 500,000km ran smoothly and was completed, without incident, in 12 weeks – six weeks ahead of schedule.
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Seven major national and international contractors, including Roadbridge Ltd, PM Group, Mercury Engineering Ltd, SIAC Butlers Steel Ltd, Kilcawley Construction and Hertel Ireland Ltd, together with an equal number of smaller local contractors, were on-site throughout most of the terminal construction and considerable time and effort had to go into aligning all the work so that it could be completed in a safe and timely way. Apart from the removal of the peat and the levelling of the site, a considerable road network, car parking and set down areas had to be constructed; 1,449 piles were installed; 16,000cu m of concrete was poured; 77km of underground piping was laid; 1,800 tonnes of steel erected; 40km of steel pipe and 435km of cable was installed and 2,600 tonnes of scaffolding had to be erected. A total of 38 red loads (out of gauge) were transferred to site without incident. The terminal itself was declared ready for forward feed gas by May 2011and is now in a state of preservation to await delivery of gas from the field.
production. All the offshore facilities are in place on the seabed in water depths of about 350 metres. Such depths are too deep for manned diving and installation is carried out using underwater robots known as Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs). Each well has a ‘Christmas tree’ structure on top of it that contains all the necessary equipment to control, monitor and shut off the well. Gas from each of the five wells is piped through individual sections of flexible flow lines to the production manifold, where it is combined and co-mingled before being fed into the main pipeline for transport to shore. The wells will be controlled by way of an umbilical, a bundle of cables and small diameter tubes, which carry electrical and hydraulic power to operate the subsea controls. It is planned to install the umbilical in 2013, connecting the subsea facilities to the terminal at Bellanaboy. During the operations phase, the subsea facilities will be monitored and controlled 24 hours a day, seven days a week from the control room at the terminal.
The subsea facilities The Corrib Field has been developed in line with best industry practice for a gas field of this type. The subsea production facility with onshore processing means there is no need for a permanent offshore platform during the operations phase. Corrib gas is trapped in a reservoir 3,000 metres below the seabed by a layer of impermeable rock. The gas is extracted by drilling wells into the reservoir. Five wells have been drilled and are ready to go into
The offshore pipeline Work on this phase of the project started in June 2009. The works programme involved preparing the landfall site at Glengad, laying the offshore section of the Corrib pipeline, in addition to completing certain subsea infrastructural works at the Corrib Field. During the summer of 2009, the Solitaire (the world’s largest pipelay vessel) welded and laid 7,000 lengths of pipe from Glengad to the field. For the first 2km offshore Glengad, the pipeline is buried to a depth >
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of 1.2m. From the 2km mark to the manifold, the pipeline was laid on the seabed and is protected at a number of locations by rock placement. An internal inspection tool, known as a ‘smart pig’, will be pushed through the pipeline at intervals to gather data on the internal condition as well as monitoring integrity throughout the pipeline. Safety measures incorporated in the pipeline include a design to withstand 345 barg in case of pressure increases above the normal operating levels. This is an extremely unlikely occurrence but nothing is left to chance in terms of the safety of the pipeline and project. In their 2006 report, Advantica, who were commissioned by the Irish Government to conduct an independent safety review, concluded that the necessary consideration had been given to all safety measures. As an additional safety measure Advantica proposed that a landfall valve installation (LVI) be constructed at Glengad, limiting the pressure in the pipeline to a maximum allowable operating pressure (MAOP) of 100 barg. The LVI has yet to be constructed and will form part of the final scope of work for the onshore pipeline. The onshore pipeline The decision to re-route the onshore pipeline came in 2006 and followed on the mediation efforts undertaken by the Government-appointed mediator Peter Cassells.
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The Advantica independent review resulted in a recommendation to limit the pressure in the offshore pipeline to 144 barg and the installation of the landfall valve at Glengad limited the pressure in the onshore section to 100 barg. An oral hearing into the application to construct the Corrib onshore pipeline was held by ABP in May and June 2009, following which ABP requested further information regarding the application. There was also a clear indication that the Corrib Gas Partners should look at Sruwaddacon Bay as an alternative route. A revised application was submitted in May 2010, outlining details for the routing and construction of the pipeline through Sruwaddacon Bay, including a tunnel under the bay, in which the pipeline will be laid. Under the new proposal the distance to the nearest occupied house was increased to 234 metres, the MAOP reduced to 100barg and the normal operating pressure to 85 barg, which is similar to the Bord Gáis Éireann’s transmission lines located throughout the country. Planning permission was granted for the revised pipeline in January 2011. A month later, a Section 40 consent was awarded under the Gas Act by the Department of Communications Energy and Natural Resources, while in July 2011, the final permit for the onshore pipeline was granted by the Department of the Environment. Roadbridge commenced work on the tunnel
construction site at Aughoose in July 2011 and that work is progressing satisfactorily. The tunnel boring machine (TBM) is now stored in Germany awaiting delivery to the site once the launch pit has been constructed. It is expected that work on the tunnel itself will begin in late 2012 and will take approximately 15 months to complete. The 8.9km section of onshore pipeline will run from Glengad to the terminal and will include a 4.6m section under Sruwaddacon Bay. Onshore, the pipeline is laid in a trench with a minimum depth of cover of approximately 1.2m. Once the trench has been filled in and the soil reinstated, there will be no evidence that the pipeline is present. Markers will be erected to help locate the pipeline at field boundaries, road crossings and changes of direction. Landowners are made aware of the exact location of the pipeline. Good neighbours and social investment in all of its operations around the world Shell is acutely aware of the impact oil and gas developments can have on the local community. One of the main aims of the Corrib Gas Partners is to be a good neighbour in the area. For this reason a decision was taken at an early stage to ensure that as many benefits as possible would accrue to the region. Jobs, services and accommodation have been placed, as far as possible, in Erris. This approach led to a significant increase in support for the project. During peak >
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constructions on the terminal there was over 1,100 jobs and close to 50% were local workers. Those coming into the area for work stayed in the locality creating a demand for accommodation and services. Safety The safety and security of employees, contractors and the community is the number one priority for the Corrib Gas Partners. The overall safety performance objective for the development is Goal Zero – which means the aim is to have no incidents that might put employees, neighbours or facilities at risk. Also established is Corrib’s Driver Safety Awareness Programme (DSAP) to create a strong culture of safety and responsible road usage among employees and contractors alike, for their own benefit and that of the community around them. In 2010 more than one million kilometres were covered in road travel relating to the project. In recognition of this high volume of travel, along with challenging weather conditions and some poor roads in Erris, the DSAP ensures a road safety focus is maintained. Defensive driver training is a specific initiative available to all staff working under this programme, which focuses on preparing people to deal with the unexpected, and potentially dangerous behaviour of other road users. This successful training has been completed by almost 1,300 staff and contractors working in Mayo and Dublin. Minimising environmental impacts Environmental Management Plans (EMPs) have been prepared for every phase of the
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development. Implementing these plans has ensured that preventative and management measures identified in the EIS have been applied throughout the construction phase to ensure the environmental impacts associated with the development are avoided, minimised and mitigated. The Corrib gas terminal at Bellanaboy Bridge will be operated in accordance with an environmental management system ISO 14001 or equivalent. Emissions from the terminal will be monitored in order to demonstrate that emissions are within stringent limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Ongoing works Routine maintenance has been carried out every summer on the wells at the Corrib field. Recently the offshore pipeline was dewatered and filled with nitrogen to ensure the integrity of the pipeline up to first gas. In addition, this summer will see an ocean bottom seismic survey taking place at the field to provide more in depth information about the profile of the Corrib reservoir. The survey will provide enhanced data that will enable a better understanding of the size of the field. On the terminal, the plant has been placed in a state of preservation to await first gas. There is ongoing maintenance work and hiring is now under way for additional maintenance and operations staff, and a programme of testing and commissioning is scheduled to take place prior to start-up. Meeting the country’s gas needs The demand for gas in Ireland is growing, due principally to its increasing use for electricity power generation. Demand for
gas-powered electricity generation is expected to continue to grow as other less environmentally friendly fossil fuels are phased out. Once it comes ashore, gas from the Corrib Field will be processed at Bellanaboy Bridge Gas Terminal to the standard laid down by BGÉ. The terminal has been connected to the BGÉ national grid since 2009. Once complete, Corrib gas will underpin Ireland’s security of energy supply and deliver a number of economic benefits. In February 2012, Goodbody Economic Consultants reported on the development pointing to the benefits to date of the approximately 1,250 jobs sustained during the construction phase (between 2004 and 2010). The Goodbody Report also projected that the completion of Corrib will sustain over 700 full-time equivalent jobs between now and 2014, with 400 of these in Mayo and Donegal, while a further 760 indirect fulltime equivalent jobs will be sustained during this time. The economic boost to Ireland by this project cannot be underestimated, with the operation and construction of the Corrib project expected to add e6Bn to Ireland’s GDP. Previous benefits include the 1,250 jobs sustained during the construction phase from 2004 to 2010.
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