MW & H2O Magazine June 2012 by H2O Megawhat

SHORT TAKE

Dr Ilham Kadri, Commercial Director, Dow Water & Process Solutions EMEA

june2012

ON THE RECORD

Malcolm S Walter, COO & Senior Vice President, Bentley

SECTOR REPORT GCC WATER SECTOR

The Golden Age Of Gas Turbines

Leveraging the growing popularity of natural gas-DRIVEN power generation HEAD LINES

• Strategic water storage plan for Jeddah • Middle East’s first plant water recycle project

contents june2012 4/ Editor's Letter

45 / Insight

8/ Round up

SECTOR REPORT

16/ In the region 22/ At large 26/ Industry notes

Designed for heavy duty Middle East’s first plant water recycle project Success factors

32/ Short Take

Dr Ilham Kadri, Commercial Director, Dow Water & Process Solutions EMEA

ON THE RECORD 34/ Sustaining infrastructure Malcolm S Walter, COO and Senior Vice President, Bentley.

GAS TURBINES 43/ Package deal

The FlexEfficiency 50 Combined Cycle Power Plant from GE enables fuel economy and quick esponseto grid demands.

MI offers wastewater Internship Vibration replaces batteries Solar power to dye for Imitating photosynthesis

47/ Green focus

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region’s water sector is steadily embracing sustainability and environment -friendly technologies.

ENERGY WORLD

CONTENTS

6/ The Metre

• • • •

NEWS

49/ Storing renewable energy

The conversion of green power into storable methane is a promising option when renewable energy cannot deliver during calm spells or in the hours of darkness.

FLIPSIDE 51/ Destined for DUCAB

ELECTRICAL REVIEW 52/ Oil testing FAQ

Insulation oils need to be tested regularly to ensure that their dielectric strength does not deteriorate.

SPOTLIGHT 10/ NYNAS 12/ Lutz-Jesco

PLUS 56/Tenders & Contracts 62/ Events Watch

June2012

CONTENTS editorsnote

editorsnote

Publisher

Dominic De Sousa

Associate Publisher

Liam Williams • liam@cpidubai.com

Editor

Anoop K Menon

The rise of natural gas

couple of years ago, energy mix debates were largely about ‘renewable energy versus fossil fuels and nuclear energy’. But in the past few months, natural gas has quickly established itself as a significant component of these conversations worldwide thanks to the rapid ascendance of non-conventional natural gas in North America, so much so that the region is on its way to becoming a net exporter by 2017. According to a study by Baker Institute, the promise of growing shale gas production, within the US and outside, has raised the prospects for greater use of natural gas, which has significant implications for global environmental objectives because lower cost natural gas can displace fuels associated with higher air pollution and greater carbon intensity, such as coal and oil. A study by sponsored by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), reported initial assessments of 5,760 trillion cubic feet (163 trillion cubic metres) of technically recoverable shale gas resources in 32 foreign countries. So it’s not surprising to hear the International Energy Agency (IEA) gung-ho about the Golden Age of Natural Gas, projecting the world production of unconventional gas, primarily shale gas, to more than triple between 2010 and 2035 to 1.6 trillion cubic metres. The IEA also believes that low gas prices will result in gas generating almost as much electricity as coal in the US by 2017. In the Middle East, where energy diversification is being led by solar and nuclear energy, natural gas-powered electricity generation will continue to account more than half of the region’s energy mix in the coming decades. Even in a scenario where renewable energy is given marked preference, gas-powered generation will be needed to compensate for the intermittency factor. Moreover, combining natural gas with wind and solar can give a cleaner and efficient hybrid plant model. So when the sun is not shining or the wind not blowing, the gas turbines will kick in, allowing the hybrid plant to operate continuously and cost effectively. Read more about that in our cover story inside. But IEA has also tempered its optimistic outlook with a caveat. To quote: “The Golden Age of Gas has dawned in North America, but its continued expansion worldwide depends on producing gas and bringing it to the market in a way that is friendly to investors and society, addressing legitimate concerns about the associated environmental and social impacts." Otherwise, unconventional gas production may rise only slightly above current levels by 2035 and the golden age may be relegated to a golden myth.

Chief Operations Officer Nadeem Hood

Editorial Director

Melanie Mingas • melanie@cpidubai.com

Editor

Anoop K Menon • anoop@cpi-industry.com

Online Editor

Gavin Davids • gavin@cpidubai.com

Business Development Director

Vedran Dedic • vedran@cpi-industry.com +971 55 8644831

Business Development Manager Deep Karani • deep@cpidubai.com +971 50 8585905

Marketing and PR Executive

Carole McCarthy • carolem@cpidubai.com

Design

Cris Malapitan • malapitan.c@cpidubai.com

Digital Services Manager IT Department

Troy Maagma • troy@cpidubai.com

Web Developer

Joel Azcuna • joel@cpidubai.com Faisal Ahmad • fahmad@cpidubai.com

USA and Canada

Kanika Saxena Director - North America 25 Kingsbridge Garden Cir. Suite 919 Mississauga, ON. Canada L5R 4B1 kanika@cpi-industry.com tel/fax: + 1 905 890 5031 Published by

Head Office

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Printed by:

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MW-H2O combines the bi-monthly legacies of two power and water industry thought-leadership brands into a monthly edition that provides an unbeatable, 360 degree perspective of the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region's utility and energy sectors. You can read the digital version of the print edition at: www.megawhatme.com I www.h2ome.net

June2012

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Belgard® & Flocon® Antiscalant Polymers Sustainable Technologies for Thermal Desalination & Reverse Osmosis

• • • • •

BWA Water Additives has been the global leader in desalination technologies since 1973. Belgard & Flocon ranges are all certified NSF/ANSI Standard 60. Flocon Antiscalant Polymers, Biocides and Membrane Cleaners are approved by leading membrane manufacturers worldwide for a wide variety of uses in Reverse Osmosis. New Flocon 885 Biodegradable Antiscalant Polymer is the latest breakthrough in biodegradable technology for a sustainable water treatment solution. BWA employs the world’s foremost technical experts, available to provide direct support.

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NEWS innumbers

themetre

700 MW

The total second phase capacity of Kuwait’s Subiya power plant which will start operations in June. The first phase, with a total capacity of 1,350 MW, is already operational. The gas-fired combined cycle power plant will use natural gas as its primary fuel and distillate as the secondary fuel.

SR500 Billion

Planned investment in Saudi Arabia’s power and water sectors over the next 10 years, announced by the Kingdom’s deputy Minister for Water Affairs Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Saud at the eighth Water, Electricity and Power Generation Forum and Exhibition (WEPower 2012) in Dhahran last month. The government is aiming to invest SR200 billion in the water sector and SR300 billion in the power sector by 2022.

RO18M The revised total value of the Sea Water Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) desalination project at the Sohar Industrial Port complex after the award of the contract for its expansion to VA Tech Wabag. The company was originally awarded the contract to complete the desalination plant in December 2010 with an initial capacity of 16,000m3/day. The expansion will increase its total capacity to 20,000m3/day with completion of the project expected by mid-2013.

June2012

The size of a special fund launched by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to invest in emerging Arab democracies. The fund is being financed out of the Bank’s reserves and will allow the Bank to start operations as a prelude to full-scale investment in the new region after an extension of the EBRD’s geographic remit has been ratified.

$4.7 The contract value of a 2,175 MW power plant project awarded recently by the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC). The project, which will be located outside Riyadh, is SEC’s 12th plant in the area and is expected to become operational in 36 months. Capacity of the distributed smart solar energy project to be set up in Bahrain through a tripartite agreement signed between Petra Solar, The National Oil and Gas Authority (NOGA), The Bahrain Petroleum Company, and Caspian Energy Holdings. The project will bring solar and smart grid benefits to the BAPCO township of Awali, the University of Bahrain and other locations in Bahrain.

June2012

NEWS inbrief

roundup Partial divestment of Al Hidd plant in Bahrain

EU project targets water use in the chemical industry

DF SUEZ and International Power (70% owned by GDF SUEZ) have completed the sale of 40% of Hidd Power Company (HPC) in Bahrain to Malakoff International for $113.4 million (€87.6 million). The plant has a total capacity of 929 MW and 90 MIGD of water desalination. This transaction is in line with International Power’s agreement to sell down part of its interest in the Bahraini power market to comply with regulatory requirements following the combination with GDF SUEZ Energy International in February 2011. Following this sale, International Power will continue to own 30% of HPC. In 2006, HPC was sold by the Government of Bahrain, via a public tender, to a consortium of International Power (40%), GDF SUEZ Energy International (30%) and Sumitomo Corporation (30%).

he European Union (EU) has launched a new project to optimise water use in the European chemical industry. The E4Water project will address crucial process industry needs in order to overcome bottlenecks in and barriers to an integrated and energy-efficient water management. Over a period of four years, 19 international partners, namely industry stakeholders, research partners and end users, will work together to develop new approaches to reduce water use, wastewater production and energy use in the chemical industry. The six industrial case study sites are expected to achieve a reduction of 2040% in water use, 30-70% in wastewater production, and 15-40% in energy use, as well as an increase of up to 60% in direct economic benefits. For more information about the project, please visit www.e4water.eu

Headworks BIO to offer electron irradiation in wastewater treatment EFG team receiving LEED certification

EFG unveils carbon management programme

mirates Float Glass (EFG), one of the largest integrated float glass manufacturers in the UAE, has claimed CO2 emission of 553 grams per kilogram of glass, which the company claims is among the best globally. The analysis, based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, a corporate accounting and reporting standard from the World Resource Institute and World Business Council for Sustainable Development, was carried out by sustainability consultant Green Technologies. EFG is implementing a Carbon Management Programme as part of its endeavour to reduce overall carbon footprint.

June2012

eadworks BIO, which supplies biological wastewater treatment solutions to municipal and industrial facilities worldwide, has signed an option agreement with The Texas A&M University System (TAMUS). Under the agreement, Headworks BIO has the right to negotiate an exclusive license for TAMUS’s patent pending Electron Beam (E-Beam) technology for use in municipal wastewater treatment applications. Electron Beam processing or electronic irradiation is a process which involves using electrons, usually of high energy, to treat an object for a variety of purposes. Possible uses for electronic irradiation include sterilisation and to cross-link polymers. The process has the ability to break the chains of DNA in living organisms, such as bacteria, resulting in microbial death and rendering the product or sample sterile. E-Beam processing is currently in use commercially for the sterilisation of medical products, pasteurising food to protect against food-borne pathogens, developing aseptic packaging materials for foods as well as in the disinfestation (the elimination of live insects) from grain, tobacco, and other unprocessed bulk crops.

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Supporters

ADVERTORIAL Nynas

Spotlight Nynas, the utility companies and the transformer manufacturers Today, there are more than a million transformers cooled by Nynas oil. Why are our products so popular? We'll try and answer that without too much chest thumping.

To begin with, our insulating oils offer numerous attractive characteristics, including: • Good to excellent oxidation stability (depending on grade selected) • Optimal response to synthetic inhibitors • Superb electrical properties • Long service life But great products are just half the story. Service, knowledge and technical expertise is equally important.

At Nynas, we’re passionate about everything to do with power.

June2012

More then 50 years' experience and the widest product range

Over the last three decades, we've supplied the world's leading transformer manufacturers, including ABB, Siemens, Alstom, and others. This not only resulted in the widest portfolio of insulating oils – we have to be able to meet widely differing demands – but also …

A global presence

Today, we provide depots, sales offices and provide access to expertise all over the world. Which means you have access to a partner who knows the business inside and out. A partner who can deliver what you need – when and where you need it. We look forward to being put to the test.

Knowledge Tank

Do you want to know more about the technical aspects of oil that influence your transformers performance? The Knowledge Tank provides in-depth information.

White papers

Many of our technical findings are published in external channels - browse our archive of White papers to learn more.

Technical articles

Sharing our knowledge about transformer oil and its key characteristics is important for us. We regularly publish new findings as technical articles. Here you'll find new insigths or additional knowledge about insulating transformer oil. Should you however still have questions and would like to have personal contact, please do not hesitate in contacting the sales office for the Middle East, site in Dubai on +971 4 332 71 25 or email to Hendrik.Cosemans@nynas.com or Karuna.Sadasivam@nynas.com

Nynas ADVERTORIAL

If you want to know more about the latest developments in transformer oils or maybe find an educational event, visit our Knowledge Tank via http://www.nynas.com/en/Segment Transformer-oils/Knowledge-Tank/

Need to talk to a transformer oil supplier who understands your business? One whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s local enough to be near you, yet global enough to have the expertise you need. Get in touch. www.nynas.com

June2012

ADVERTORIAL Lutz-Jesco

Spotlight

A measured step forward 0ver the 50 plus years of its existence, Germany-headquartered Lutz-Jesco has established a global reputation for developing, manufacturing and implementing innovative solutions for swimming pool water/drinking water disinfection and urban wastewater treatment. The company established its Middle East subsidiary, LutzJesco Middle East, in 2003 in Sharjah. In April 2011, Mahir Zaid took over as the General Manager and Chief Operating Officer of the Middle East office. Zaid brings to the table thirteen years of industry experience spanning Europe and the Middle East with stints at the prestigious University of Bremen and pump industry leader KSB. He spoke to us on the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s presence in the region, the significance of its made-in-Germany heritage, competitive differentiators and market strategy. Excerpts from the interview Could you tell us something about Lutz-Jesco as a company and its presence in the Middle East region? Lutz-Jesco GmbH is a 50-year plus company specialising in dosing pumps, metering pumps and gas chlorination systems for Water and Waste water Treatment plants. It is a part of Lutz Holding, which is based in Germany. Other companies under the Lutz Holding umbrella include Lutz-Pumpen GmbH (Wertheim, Germany) specialising in centrifugal and barrel pumps used in the oil & gas industry; MTE: Motors and Tools Engineering (Couvet, Switzerland); Lutz GmbH & Co. KG (Wertheim, Germany), specialising in Glass Technology, Technopool Schwimmbadtechnologie (Wedemark, Germany), which specialises in dosing systems used in swimming pools. Lutz Jesco Middle East, based in the SAIF Zone, Sharjah, is the regional branch office, covering the GCC, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Sudan and Pakistan. The office houses a team of 17 sales engineers responsible for these countries; it also includes a 600 square metre warehouse, where we carry out assembly as well as technical services for customers. For example, if a water project requires a dosing system, we can assemble all the required equipment here. Our dosing pumps, metering pumps and gas chlorination systems are used in water stations, wastewater treatment, public baths, swimming pools, petro-chemistry, ceramic industry, paper and pulp industry and industrial pipeline construction.

June2012

Mahir Zaid

What are your competitive differentiators? All our products â&#x20AC;&#x201C; dosing pumps, chlorination systems, control panels, measuring meters - are manufactured in Germany, which ensures superior product quality. We have always stressed on highly reliability and efficiency in our products because they are used in sensitive and critical applications. For example, our dosing pumps are used to inject chemicals, some of which like Chlorine are toxic, into process. So we always strive to ensure that our products are of very high quality with a very high margin of safety. We are not looking to merely sell products; rather, we are looking to serve the process with reliable products so that the customers are confident that their systems are working. Moreover, our service team is always available to attend to any emergency at a short notice. To support and guarantee a high quality standard, we have introduced quality management system based on DIN EN ISO 9001. Furthermore, our products and operational processes are driven by the eco-management and audit scheme DIN ISO 14001. How critical are your products in the applications you mentioned earlier? For example, in a drinking water treatment plant, posttreatment, the water needs to be disinfected before it can be supplied to the end-consumer. Our gas chlorination systems enable injection of chlorine gas into the water at the desired concentration. If the chlorine level is higher than required, it will prove toxic to the people; but if it

Spotlight

From a competition stand point, how does your disinfection equipment stack up? There are mainly two types of chlorination systems in the market. Sodium hypochlorite disinfection systems are liquid-based injection systems; but these are typically used for small capacities. For bigger plants, chlorine gas disinfection systems are a better choice. In such plants, sodium hypochlorite is not a great option because the tank sizes become huge. Of course, there are many companies offering similar products but where we differ is in terms of

And what can we do for you? Drop by drop or with maximum flow, at tropical temperatures and even this possibly in a really “caustic“ environment: The demands on dosing pumps being as variable as the application as the possibilities and tasks themselves, Lutz-Jesco offers individual solutions for each field of appli- cat-

product quality and most importantly, design engineering. We don’t simply supply equipment to a water or wastewater treatment project; we also carry out engineering studies. In other words, we have the capability to design the chlorination system for the whole plant. In this manner, we help the engineering consultant and the operator select the right solution. In fact, our design engineering strength is a competitive differentiator. We have a local team of chemical and mechanical engineers who can design the dosing or the chlorination systems end-to-end. We can thus supply equipment independently or the complete system on a turnkey basis. What is your go-to-market strategy? We work mainly with the electro-mechanical contractors. However, we also sit down with engineering consultants –the owner’s and the contractor’s – as well as the plant owners/operators to ensure that we are talking the same language. Even where the design has already been done, we have to cross check if the design is well done because we understand best how our equipment works.

Lutz-Jesco ADVERTORIAL

is less, the water will not be safe for consumption. Our equipment ensures that only the desired quantity of chlorine is injected into drinking water so that it meets international standards. We also have our own control systems where we get the water sample and analyse the water quality – the chlorine concentration, conductivity, pH – and accordingly control the injection of chlorine. In the case of wastewater, the treated effluent is often used for greening. If this effluent is not disinfected prior to irrigation, it could prove risky for the people.

ion. The extensive product program ranges from the low-cost precisely operating solenoid-driven dosing pump to the “heavy-duty“ motor-driven diaphragm dosing pump, and last but not least, to the piston dosing pump for high pressures up to 400 bar. All of them dosing liquids of differing viscosities, mostly chemically aggressive and toxic, sometimes even abrasive or effervescent.

Lutz -Jesco Middle East FZE

P.O. Box 9614, SAIF-Free Zone, Sharjah, UAE Phone: 00971-6-5572205 | Fax: 00971-6-5572230 E-Mail: info@jescome.com | Web: www.jescome.com Head Office: Lutz-Jesco GmbH, Germany | ISO 9001, ISO 14001 Company

June2012

ADVERTORIAL Lutz-Jesco

Spotlight Also, Lutz-Jesco Middle East is one of the seven global subsidiaries of Lutz-Jesco. Worldwide, the company has over 76 sales representatives and 14 service partners. The UAE market is handled by the Sharjah office. For rest of the countries, we rely on local partners for sales. For standard equipment, they handle the job themselves; but for gas chlorination and dosing systems, our Sharjah office provides them with design engineering support. How do you see the market potential for your products going forward? The key drivers are still there – population growth and rapid industrialisation will continue to drive up the demand for drinking water and wastewater treatment in the Middle East. At the same time, people are also becoming aware of the importance of water conservation. As a result, water recycling and re-use is now a growing trend. There are many projects today where treated wastewater is being polished for use in district cooling, in industrial processes or agricultural irrigation. With each drop of water being used, recycled and reused, there will always be a need for disinfection to ensure the desired water quality for the application in question. So the Middle East will always be a key growth market for us. Given that chemicals are a key part of your equipment, how do you the incorporate sustainability message? If a dosing pump or gas chlorination system or control unit is not properly sized, the injection of chemicals in the process may be more than what is required. For example, in a reverse osmosis (RO) plant, if the use of sodium hypochlorite or antiscalant is not controlled in a precise manner, you are injecting these chemicals into the water. You will also have to invest more in your wastewater

treatment to get rid of these chemicals. In the interim, you will have to deal with higher energy consumption, pollution. If you are precise in your injection of chemicals, you can ensure that you get exactly what you need - nothing more, nothing less. Do you also offer maintenance services for your systems? The minimum design life for our pumps 10 years, while the service design life is 20 years, which means you can get service and spare parts for that period. Other than that, we have technicians to attend to emergency requests or service requests like calibration of equipment - this is extremely important due to the sensitive nature of the equipment and the applications. If you procure your pumps from a company which doesn’t have a service point in the region, it will be difficult to calibrate your pumps or dosing systems from time to time as needed. As a result, they will not run properly. However, in our case, we are able to offer technical and service support thanks to our local presence. We also train the main customer’s in-house service team on maintaining our equipment post-installation and commissioning. From time to time, we also carry out refresher training for these teams. If the customers want to enter into a separate service contract, we can offer that too. We supply our equipment to large water and wastewater treatment plants and all the way down to hotels. If there is no maintenance and the pumps stop working, whether it is in a large water treatment plant or a hotel swimming pool, the consequences will be disastrous. In fact, we design most of our equipment on one duty-one standby basis. Then, as I mentioned earlier, we have a service team to respond to emergencies.

LUTZ-JESCO KEY REFERENCE PROJECTS IN THE REGION

June2012

YEAR

PROJECT NAME

PLACE

EQUIPMENT

2000

Sewage Treatment Plant in BURAIDAH / SAUDI ARABIA

SAUDI ARABIA

Chlorination system for Sewage treatment plant at Buraidah

2006

Wafra WTP -Kuwait

KUWAIT

Chlorination system for Wafra WTP, Kuwait

2007

Uyun Resorvoir- Oman

OMAN

Chlorination system for Uyun Reservoir, Oman

2007

KABD and WAFRA RESERVOIRS-KUWAIT

KUWAIT

Chlorination system for KABD and WAFRA RESORVOIRSKUWAIT

2008

KAHRAMAA-QATAR

QATAR

Dosing skid for KAHRAMAA-QATAR

roundup The reduction is equivalent to double the current annual emissions of Switzerland.

orporate members of WWF’s Climate Savers programme cut their carbon dioxide emissions by more than 100 million tonnes over the period 1999 to 2011, according to an independent review of the programme. The review, conducted by the international energy consultancy Ecofys, also finds that as Climate Savers companies continue to deliver on their commitments up to 2020, overall emissions savings since 1999 could exceed 350 million tonnes. The analysis finds that were other major corporations to follow the Climate Savers’ lead in only the current 16 business sectors where the programme is active, between 500 and 1000 million tonnes of emissions could be avoided annually in 2020, an amount roughly comparable to the current annual emissions of Germany. These reductions could contribute up to nine per cent to closing what UNEP calls the ‘emissions gap’. The gap is the difference between rising greenhouse gas emissions and what is needed to put the world on a path to limiting global warming to the maximum acceptable level of two degrees Celsius The emission calculations include direct emissions from a company’s operations, indirect emissions from use of purchased electricity, heat or steam and other indirect emissions from the supply chain but not under the company’s control. Annual savings in emissions were the difference between business-asusual and real and forecast emissions.

(Left to Right) Frank Jarosch (Head of ETHS, Siemens WLL); Eng Eisa Helal Al Kuwari (President of Kahramaa) Professor Sheikha Abdulla Al-Misnad (President of Qatar University) and Martin a Porta (CEO of Siemens WLL)

Siemens supports regional R&D efforts

s part of its efforts to support to local Research & Development (R&D) efforts, Siemens signed an MOU in Qatar to pursue energy efficiency in the country’s power sector, while in the UAE, the company successfully completed a major research programme. In Qatar, the local arm of Siemens signed a two-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Qatar University (QU) and KAHRAMAA last month to establish scientific and academic cooperation in the area of energy efficiency. Siemens will also establish a Faculty Chair for Energy Efficiency at the College of Engineering (CENG) with the objective to graduate qualified Qatari nationals to work in the energy sector. The same week, Siemens also announced the successful completion of its first research collaboration project with Masdar Institute in the UAE on carbon capture and storage. The project focused on the improvement and adaptation of the proprietary Siemens post-combustion carbon capture technology based on Amino Acid Salt formulations to the requirements of the local markets.

olazyme, a renewable oil and bioproducts company, and The Dow Chemical Company have entered into a contingent offtake agreement in which Dow has agreed to purchase from Solazyme all of its requirements of non-vegetable microbe-based oils for use in dielectric fluid applications through 2015, contingent upon Solazyme’s ability to supply such oils within agreed specifications and certain terms and conditions of the sale. The new algal oil provides higher flash point and increased functionality to dielectric insulating fluids for transformers and other electrical applications. Tim Laughlin, General Manager, Dow Electrical & Telecommunications, said that advanced field trials in transformers will be initiated to further prove the technology and value proposition of these new products in the near term.

inbrief NEWS

Climate Savers cut 100 million tonnes of CO2

Solazyme, Dow in pact for biobased insulating fluids

Emerson acquires ISE Magtech

merson Process Management has announced that it has acquired ISE Magtech, enabling the former to strengthen its level measurement solutions in the oil and gas, refining, chemical, and power generation industries. ISE Magtech designs and manufactures level gages and associated equipment for use in industrial applications. This acquisition will allow Emerson Process Management to provide complete liquid level measurement solutions across the process industry. Tom Moser, president of Rosemount Measurement said: “ISE Magtech’s knowledge and technology combine perfectly with Rosemount technology to expand Emerson’s offering.” June2012

NEWS MENA

intheregion (Left to Right) Arja Talakar, CEO, Siemens Saudi Arabia; Dr Saleh Al Awaji, Deputy Minister of Water and Electricity for Electricity Affairs; Dr Michael Suess, CEO, Energy Sector and member of the Managing Board, Siemens AG; Abdulrahman Al-Wuhaib, Senior Vice President, Saudi Aramco; Ali Al-Barrak CEO, SEC; Sheikh Sami Juffali, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Siemens in Saudi Arabia.

Siemens breaks ground for Saudi gas turbine facility Slated for completion in 2013, the facility will support the Kingdom’s industrialisation drive.

ast month, Siemens broke ground for a new manufacturing facility for gas turbines and compressors in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The groundbreaking ceremony, held under the patronage of H.R.H. Prince Mohammed bin Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Governor of the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia, took place in the presence of several government officials, the local partner E. A. Juffali & Brothers, executives from Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) and Saudi Aramco as well as high-ranking representatives of Siemens. Planned for completion in late 2013, the centre will create job opportunities for young Saudis while serving as a knowledge transfer hub for new Siemens technology. With its local partner, Siemens will invest a threedigit million US Dollar figure in the facility, which will be constructed on a 220,000 square-metre site in Dammam. The manufacturing facility, a first of its kind initiative for Siemens in the Middle East, will cater to the local market. From a sustainability perspective, the new site will also aim for LEED Gold Certification in the category ‘New Construction.’ Dr Michael Suess, CEO of the Energy Sector and member of the Managing Board of Siemens, said: “With this new facility, Siemens is clearly strengthening its long-term commitment to Saudi Arabia. We will create qualified jobs and train young Saudis in order to achieve a true transfer of our innovative technologies.” Siemens, in association with Saudi Petroleum Services Polytechnic (SPSP) and the Kingdom’s Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF), offers a two-year technical apprenticeship program (through SPSP), followed by a one year on-the-job training at Siemens facilities in Germany and the US. The first batch of 40 Saudi students entered the programme in December 2011.

June2012

Dubai is targeting to meet one per cent of its overall energy needs from renewables by 2020 and five per cent by 2030.

RFPs for Dubai’s 10 MW solar plant to be out in June DEWA receives 150 Expressions of Interest (EOI) from contractors worldwide for the project.

ubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) has received around 150 Expressions of Interest (EOI) from contractors to build the 10 MW solar PV power plant under the first phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. The EOIs were invited on 5th April this year. Post-completion of the qualification evaluation process, pre-qualified contractors will be invited to send in Request For Proposals (RFP) this month. The 10 MW plant is being funded by the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy (SCE). H.E. Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, expressed his satisfaction regarding the number of EOIs. “The programme aims to prepare and develop qualified UAE nationals in the areas of solar energy, and create new job opportunities for UAE citizens in the fields of research and development, planning, design, construction and operation in solar energy,” he noted. H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, launched the Dh12 billion Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park at the start of 2012. With a projected capacity of 1,000 MW, the solar park will be located at Seih Al Dahal on the Dubai-Al Ain Road. DEWA will manage the overall development of the solar park and and operate it as well.

Al Dur IWPP started commercial operations in February this year.

H.M. King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa inaugurates the $2.1 billion Al Dur project.

is Majesty King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa, King of Bahrain has officially inaugurated Bahrain’s largest independent power generation and water desalination plant, owned by Al-Dur Power & Water Company. The ceremony was also attended by H.R.H. Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa and other local, regional and international dignitaries, business leaders, shareholders and partners of the company. The plant, which began commercial operations in February 2012, has a capacity of 1,234 MW of power and 218,000 m3/day of water, equivalent to approximately one-third of the Kingdom’s installed power capacity and one-third of its water requirements. The Bahraini Electricity and Water Authority (EWA) is the sole off-taker of the plant output under a 25-year

Power and Water Purchase Agreement. Al Dur has been developed at a total cost of $2.1 billion by International Power-GDF SUEZ and Gulf Investment Corporation. The project’s Bahraini shareholders include Social Insurance Organisation, Bahrain Islamic Bank, Capital Management House, First Energy Bank and Instrata Capital. His Excellency, Abdulhussain bin Ali Mirza, Minister of Electricity of the Kingdom of Bahrain, said: “We are honoured by the patronage and presence of His Majesty the King to mark the official inauguration of the Al Dur power and water plant. EWA is working hand-inhand with the private sector in order to support government efforts to expand the Kingdom’s infrastructure. We are confident that the launch of Al Dur and its partnership with EWA

will ensure the stable and secure supply of power and water to support ongoing growth and diversification of the economy.” ”We are delighted to inaugurate this landmark project in the Kingdom of Bahrain,” said Hisham Al-Razzuqi, Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC). “With the launch of commercial operations at the plant, the Kingdom’s power and water supply has been secured well into this decade.” Phillip Cox, Chief Executive Officer, International Power pointed out that the plant is the first of its size in the Middle East to use Reverse Osmosis (RO). Al Dur is also the only private power production facility in the Kingdom capable of independently restarting the national grid in the unlikely event of a nationwide black out.

June2012

MENA NEWS

Bahrain’s largest IWPP inaugurated

NEWS MENA

intheregion Ras Laffan City supports the industrial cluster that taps Qatar’s vast gas reserves in the North Field

Emerson Process invests in new Qatar service facility The new $3 million facility will support the company’s end-users in Ras Laffan Industrial City.

ne of the largest contracting companies in Qatar and Emerson business partner DOPET (Doha Petroleum Construction) and Emerson Process Management have launched a new service facility in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar at an initial investment of $3 million. The new facility will support Emerson’s end-users in Ras Laffan Industrial City by providing comprehensive services for Fisher control valves, the DeltaV digital automation system, Rosemount measurement technologies, and Rosemount Analytical analysers and sensors. It will also have a dedicated training room for Engineering and Maintenance courses. The new facility will be managed by Emerson Process Management, with DOPET owning and running the Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) business. In addition, part of the building will be utilised as Emerson office space. As the facility is located inside the Industrial City, there is no need for equipment gate passes to move in and out of the industrial area. This will significantly reduce entry and exit paperwork, enabling clients to have their work serviced and inspected more quickly and efficiently. Amir Khouzani, General Manager for DOPET operations said, “Having worked with Emerson Process Management as their local business partners in Qatar for the past 12 years, the opening of this jointly managed service facility demonstrates our strong commitment to the existing customer base as well as the building of our capacity to grow our business further.” “Emerson Process Management is committed to the Middle East, with facilities in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Kuwait, Basra, Manama and Saudi Arabia - Al Khobar and Jubail,” added Dave Tredinnick, President of Emerson Process Management, ME&A. “We are determined to align ourselves with the specific requirements of all our customers by making the resources available to meet local needs in every market where we have a significant presence.”

June2012

Estimates show that Jeddah’s population is likely to grow to 5.7 million by 2020

Strategic water storage plan for Jeddah The first phase of the project, with a capacity of 1.5 million m3, has been cleared for implementation

audi Arabia’s National Water Company (NWC) has launched a SR2.2 billion strategic water storage project for Jeddah with a total capacity of six million m3. The launch of the project follows a royal decree for creating strategic water tanks in Jeddah and Mecca, where the studies conducted by NWC showed that there is an urgent need to find radical and strategic solutions to the challenges of development and rapid population growth The first phase of the project, with a capacity of 1.5 million m3, was recently cleared for implementation at a cost of SR500 billion. It will come up in Breiman and consist of four concrete tanks with a capacity of 375,000 m3 each; furthermore, each tank will contain three cells of 125,000 m3 capacity each. The first phase is expected to be completed in 24 months from the date the contractor takes over the project site. The supporting projects have been divided into four contracts comprising a carrier line from desalination plants on the Red Sea coast to Al Faisaliah storage tanks at a cost of SR99 million (which has been completed), a carrier line from Al Faisaliah to Breiman at a cost of SR93 million (under implementation), a pumping station project from Al Faisaliah to Breiman at a cost of SR70 million (under tendering) and mixing rooms at an estimated cost of SR120 million (also under tendering). The supporting projects will be completed in parallel with the first phase over the next two years. The second and third phases of the Jeddah project will see total capacity addition of 4.5 million m3.

Dubai Municipality task force to tackle odour emissions

ubai Municipality has appointed a new task force to control odour emissions from Al Aweer Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) in Al Warsan area. “Dubai Municipality, with its firm commitment to safe and healthy environment protection and sustainable and innovative sewage treatment system, has always been keen to improving its systems and approach,” said Eng. Mohammed Abdulaziz Najm, Director of Sewage Treatment Department at the civic body. “The assignment of this team comes in line with Dubai’s Strategic Directions. They will contain, control and minimise the odour emission from Al Aweer Plant.”

Eng. Mohammed Abdulaziz Najm, Director of Sewage Treatment Department, Dubai Municipality

Eng. Rashed Karkain, Head of Al Aweer Operation Section added that the team could achieve odour reduction of up to 98% in most parts of the plant by innovative and corrective enhancement to the facility despite the challenges of the excess load compared to design capacity. "We could reduce bad smell that creates nuisance to public thanks to the measures we adopted to assess emissions throughout all stages of treatment. Newly added improvement in chemical treatment facilities ensure 98% increase in toxic gas absorption,” explained Karkain. Dubai Municipality has claimed that numbers of complaints regarding odour from the plant has dropped steeply by its extensive surveys to measure out the problem and adequately stepping up the plant’s technical capacity.

MENA NEWS

DM's Al Aweer Sewage Treatment Plant reduces odour emissions through improvements to existing chemical treatment system

Eng. Rashed Karkain, Head of Al Aweer Operation Section, Dubai Municipality

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June2012

NEWS MENA

intheregion

Study highlights power and water savings in households Household carbon audits and retrofits by EWS-WWF indicate potential to save of over 30% of electricity and water in UAE households.

T The workshop was organised by Dubai Supreme Council of Energyand Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence

Workshop addresses carbon footprint A detailed inventory of Dubai’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is expected to be finalised by December 2012.

he Dubai Supreme Council of Energy (DSCE) and the Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence (DCCE) organised a workshop marking the launch of the ‘Monitoring, Reporting and Verification’ phase of Dubai’s Carbon Footprint project, which will create a platform to monitor and benchmark Dubai’s carbon performance. The workshop was inaugurated by Waleed Salman, Chairman of the DCCE, who underlined the importance of this project in terms of building a strong database to reach the objective of the CO2 abatement strategy in Dubai. Speakers included Taher Diab, Director of Strategy and Planning at the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, and Ivano Iannelli, CEO of DCCE. The workshop was attended by newly appointed Carbon Strategy Champions and facilitators from a number of Dubai based government entities and other industries. The development of a Carbon Emission Inventory, or the overall 'carbon footprint' for Dubai will enable the government to draw a baseline on present day emission levels and track changes in the years to come. As a strategic initiative by the DSCE, it will form the background for the development of a legal framework and introduction of a comprehensive carbon dioxide abatement programme. A detailed inventory of Dubai’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions

Households account for 57% of the UAE’s Ecological Footprint

June2012

is being produced in line with the requirements of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Expected to be finalised by December 2012, the project will verify and extend the initial carbon dioxide emissions baseline established by the DSCE in 2011 “We will identify viable targets for emission reduction and provide recommendations on how to monetise emissions, similar to the European Trading Scheme or the Clean Development Mechanism developed under the Kyoto Protocol, through the Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence,” said H.E. Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Vice Chairman of DSCE. “We will also create an incentive-based mechanism to reduce carbon emissions which will establish a regional benchmark for sustainable development and help finance new investment in clean energy infrastructure, further supporting the growth of Dubai.” In order to facilitate and harmonise the data collection in the ‘Monitoring, Reporting and Verification’ (MRV) phase of the project, governmental institutions and the industry were briefed during the workshop on how to report their entity’s emissions. Participants are being associated with their industrial cluster to promote mutual assistance as well as competitive spirit among the industries.

hree families in the UAE took part in home carbon audits, funded by an Emirates Foundation for Philanthropy grant, to help reduce their Ecological Footprint and tackle climate change as part of EWS-WWF’s Heroes of the UAE initiative, launched in 2009 in partnership with Environment Agency Abu Dhabi. Households account for 57% of the country’s Ecological Footprint; so the sector has the potential to significantly reduce its energy and water consumption and in doing so, help in the fight against climate change. The audits were conducted in three households in Abu Dhabi, Fujairah and Dubai. The retrofits included shifting from traditional bulbs to LED lighting, installing Eco3 devices to improve A/C efficiency, installing water saving devices and using a thermal roof coating. Results indicate that with the technological changes alone, households have the potential to reduce electricity consumption on average by 37% and water consumption by 30%. On average each participating case study has the potential to save more than 11,000 kg of CO2 per year saving 34% of the total carbon emissions from the three households. The financial savings from these audits is significant as all three households have the potential to reduce their bills by more than Dh12,000 per year by saving 54,000 kWh and the equivalent of about half million 1.5-litre water bottles annually. Households could achieve additional electricity and water savings of at least 10% through implementing simple behavioural changes, such as turning off taps and switching off lights and appliances when they are not in use.

Estimated breakdown of indoor versus Outdoor water use (EAA & RTI 2009) Litres (000,000)

Total Indoor usage

356.5

60%

Total outdoor usage

238.75

40%

Estimated baseline indoor Residential Water Consumption by End-Use (EAA & RTI 2009) End Use:

Litres (000,000)

Dish washing

% of total 5

Clothes washing

1.4%

40%

Showers

68.2

19.2%

Faucets

72.3

20.3%

Toilets

83.2

23.3%

Leakage and other

56.8

15.9%

To meet growing demand, Bahrain’s government is investing $8-$10-billion in its Refinery Master Plan Project

Dr Abdulhussain Mirza, Minister of Energy, Bahrain

ahrain’s energy sector is posed for significant growth over the next several years, said the country’s Energy Minister. “Although being one of the smaller countries in the region, Bahrain, in its own right, will attract about $20 billion over the next 15 years,” said Dr Abdulhussain Mirza. Demand for oil in the Middle East has been on a steady rise, causing concern over supply levels, noted Mirza. This year, consumption rates in the Middle East represented nine per cent of world consumption, compared to 6.6 per cent in 2000. “The Middle East, in addition to its role of being the leading producer of oil and gas in the world, is becoming one of the fastest growing areas of demand,” he said. To meet the growing demand, Bahrain’s government is investing $8bn-$10 bn in the Refinery Master Plan Project, which seeks to update the country’s refinery to meet market demands and environmental standards. Additionally, Bahrain plans to spend more than $25 million per year as part of Bahrain Economic Vision 2030 to adequately train staff for careers in the sector. Along with the refinery upgrade, renewable energy pilot projects are also underway. Recently, Petra Solar, the National Oil and Gas Authority (NOGA), Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO), and Caspian Energy Holdings, announced an agreement to set up a 5MW distributed smart solar energy project in the country.

MENA NEWS

Tamara Withers, Heroes of the UAE Programme Manager at EWS-WWF, was one of the driving forces behind these audits said: “Many of these technical changes are available and affordable such as energy efficient lighting and water saver devices. These audits also help to highlight how shifting our behaviour patterns can also make a huge impact on energy and water conservation.”In fact, 76% of the UAE’s high per capita Ecological Footprint is due to carbon emissions mostly associated with energy and water consumption. Identifying the benefits of conserving these resources, the national campaign Heroes of the UAE was launched with a focus on energy and water conservation across all sectors of society: from individuals and households, to corporations, government and schools.

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The Industry demonstration project will be implemented at Schiphol Airport.

NEWS international

atlarge

Shale gas is poised to expand outside the US, offering 28% annual growth in water treatment, but risks overexposure for start-ups chasing the market, says Lux Research.

ith hydraulic fracturing, or fracking – the use of high pressure water to help extract previously inaccessible shale gas – eager to replicate its success outside the US, the market for water treatment will grow nine-fold to $9 billion in 2020. This expansion will spur technology innovation and novel thinking about water disposal and reuse, but the field is rapidly growing overcrowded, creating significant risk for new entrants, Lux Research said in a report. Fracking requires between 4,000 m3 and over 22,000 m3 of water per well and produces toxin-laced brine that can be more than six times as salty as the sea. Its growth has energised the water industry, inspiring a bumper crop of new water treatment startups vying to treat the highly challenging flowback water. “Fracking represents a significant water treatment challenge – hydrocarbons, heavy metals, scalants, microbes, and salts in produced and flowback water from shale gas wells represent a water treatment challenge on par with the most difficult industrial wastewaters,” said Brent Giles, Lux Research Analyst and the lead author of the report titled, ‘Risk and Reward in the Frack Water Market.’ “While the opportunity is large, only a few companies are really positioned to profit. Meanwhile, nearly every start-up we talk to is going after frack water, regardless of their technology, and many of them are June2012

The second phase involves the implementation of five on-ground demonstration projects in the Netherlands

Cross section of a horizontal drill in Marcellus shale.

Frack water market to grow nine-fold

Smart Energy Collective enters design phase

going to come to grief,” he added. Lux Research positioned key companies on the Lux Innovation Grid based on their Technical Value and Business Execution – companies that are strong on both axes reach the “Dominant” quadrant – and also assessed each company’s maturity, and provided an overall Lux Take. Among its findings: • WaterTectonics has technology and alliances. WaterTectonics’ highenergy electrocoagulation technology addresses heavy metals, biological matter, and hydrocarbons, but leaves salt in place, meaning its use is restricted to areas where salt levels are moderate. Still, with its long-term alliance with Halliburton, WaterTectonics reaches the ‘Dominant’ quadrant. • EcoSphere, AquaMost lead in oxidation technologies. Ecosphere combines ozone, cavitation, and electrochemistry, and the $9 million company leads in the “Dominant” quadrant. AquaMost, an early-stage start-up, uses catalysed UV to achieve many of the same results, but also removes metals. It ranks as ‘High potential’ with strong technical value. • GasFrac is poised to disrupt the industry. GasFrac, with technology licensed from Chevron, uses highpressure propane, rather than high-pressure water, to fracture gas wells. Its technology is being tested by Shell, Blackbrush, Husky, and Chevron, among others. With 300 employees, revenues of $300 million, and $50 million on hand, the profitable company outstrips every water startup in our line up, positioned in the ‘Dominant’ quadrant and earning a “Strong Positive” Lux Take.

wenty six partners of the Smart Energy Collective have signed a renewed cooperation agreement for the second phase of a smart grid initiative, which involves the development of five large-scale smart grid demonstration projects in the Netherlands. The signing marks the start of the design phase of the five trial test sites following a successful preparation period. The projects will be implemented at Schiphol airport, in a few offices of ABB and Siemens, and in residential districts in Gorinchem, Heerhugowaard, and Goes. The Smart Energy Collective is one of the largest sector-transcending initiatives in Europe for the concrete development of smart grids and services. Current participants in the project are: ABB, Alliander, APX Endex, BAM, DELTA, DNV KEMA Energy & Sustainability, Efficient Home Energy, Eaton, Eneco, Enexis, Essent, GEN, Gemalto, Heijmans, IBM, ICT Automatisering, Imtech, KPN, Nedap, NXP Semiconductors, Philips, Priva, Siemens, Smart Dutch, Stedin and TenneT. A survey conducted during the first phase uncovered more than 6,000 relevant standards that play a role in the new technologies, which will be introduced to the market over the coming years. Working groups have been established for standardisation, market mechanisms, services and business cases, smart grids, privacy and security, and ICT infrastructure, in order to establish a solid foundation for the design of the five demonstration projects, as well as for future projects. 1.Industry: The Industry demonstration project will be implemented at Schiphol Airport (the GROUNDS) and is focused on small, medium, and large industries. The objective is to prevent local network congestion and to maintain a local energy balance through the use of local electricity generation with one or more combined heat and power (CHP) plants.

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NEWS international

atlarge 2. Offices: The Offices demonstration project will primarily investigate how the flexibility in the energy demand of these offices can be exploited by energy management systems, and the introduction of commercial generating sets with a complete portfolio of offices. The trial test site will consist of a few offices of Siemens and ABB, and potentially other partners in the collective. 3. All Electric Residential District: An entirely electric district provides a unique electricity market profile because the entire energy demand is electric, and local generation is effected through means of solar panels. The charging of electric vehicles and space heating, through electric heat pumps, requires flexibility to reduce the peak load. Storage of electricity, potentially supplemented by local generation using biogas-fired CHP plants, supports this flexibility and the network required for this demonstration project. The trial test site will be implemented in Gorinchem. 4. Gas and Electricity Network District: This trial test site - which will be implemented in Heerhugowaard - is focused on the potential of the existing residential buildings, where gas and electricity applications are brought into competition with each other. In addition, the project will investigate how to get the best out of these two worlds. This provides many opportunities for cost-efficient sustainable energy solutions with a high market potential. 5. District Heating Area: This demonstration project- in Goesdistinguishes itself from other demonstration projects, due to the fully integrated heat and electricity solution. Many possibilities will be investigated, including opportunities for introducing comfort-based services.

June2012

Sea Water Reverse Osmosis Plant 3,000m3/day in Gladstone LNG Project

Metito-Bechtel partnership bags LNG projects in Australia

All three projects, worth over $40 million, are located in Curtis Island, in the vicinity of Gladstone, Queensland.

ubai-based water treatment specialist Metito has bagged projects worth over $40 million in Australia’s oil & gas sector through its long term partnership arrangement with Bechtel, a leading global Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC) contractor and major player in Australia’s booming LNG industry. All three projects are located in Curtis Island, in the

vicinity of Gladstone, Queensland State, where coal seam gas will be transferred through a long pipeline to LNG terminals, then liquefied and made ready for export. The first project is Gladstone LNG (GLNG) where the main client is a consortium of Petronas, Total, Kogas and Santos. The second project is Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG), where the main client is British Gas, while the third project is Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG), where the main client is ConocoPhillips. Tarek Ghandour, International Business Development Manager, said; “We are honoured to work with Bechtel on such important projects which we see as a valuable opportunity for our team to build on Metito’s Australian local projects portfolio.”

China, Russia to drive transformer markets China, Russia and India to generate most business; global power transformer market expected reach $22.8 billion in 2020

ccording to a new report by energy experts GlobalData, global power transformer markets are expected to grow considerably in the future, with China and India as key current markets, and Russia set to witness a significant growth in the future. Revenue from the global power transformer market reached $12.5 billion in 2011, with growth primarily driven by the AsiaPacific and Middle Eastern regions The share of China and India in the global transformers market revenues is expected to increase from 36% in 2011 to 45.6% by 2020, driven by massive transmission and distribution (T&D) investments in these countries. China’s focus previously laid with the increasing power generation capacities to meet burgeoning electricity demand, which led to under-

The Russian market is expected to grow considerably in the future

investment in grid networks. However, the transmission sector is now receiving much-needed investment which will boost power transformer sales in the country. In India, rising electricity demands have led to increased investments in the power generation and transmission sector. The country plans to add 100,000 MW of installed capacity as part of the country’s 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-2017), which will necessitate a large amount of investment in the transmission network, thus driving the power transformer market. The Russian market is expected to grow considerably in the future, as improving economic conditions and increasing electricity consumption are coupled with reforms related to privatisation and electricity pricing in the power sector.

2012

Celebrating the oustanding achievements of the MENA Water Sector

21st November 2012

The third edition of the H2O Water Awards will be presented to outstanding nominations in the following categories:

Project Category

Product Category

• Best Water Project • Best Wastewater Project • Innovative Use/Application of Technology • Water Efficieny Leader • Water Communications & Marketing

• Best Water Product • Best Wastewater product • Water-Efficient Product if the Year • Most Innovative Product/Technology of the Year (Industrial & Commercial)

To submit your nominations, please visit www.h2ome.net/awards

For sponsorship enquiries, contact: Vedran Dedic (Group Sales Director) Tel: +971 4 375 6834 Mobile: +971 55 8644831 Email: vedran@cpi-industry.com

For other enquiries, contact: Anoop Menon (Editor) Tel: +971 4 375 6830 Mobile: +971 50 2816075 Email: vedran@cpi-industry.com

June2012

NEWS industrynotes

Transformer Care

Designed for heavy duty Naphthenic oils are poised to make greater inroads into the Middle East transformer oil market.

transformer is an important financial asset for a utility or large company because it is critical to reliable power supply,” says Hendrik Cosemans, General Manager, Nynas AB Middle East, a leading player in the global transformer oil market. “People are increasingly less tolerant of any power failure. In Europe, utilities have to pay a fine to the government in case of power failure, which is something that will eventually come to this region as well.” People are increasingly less tolerant of any power failure. In Europe, utilities have to pay a fine to the government in case of power failure, which is something that will eventually come to this region as well.” The transformer oil and the insulating paper, he hastens to add, are amongst two of the most critical parts of the transformer. Though the oil constitutes only a small portion of the total investment - three to six per cent of the total cost of the transformer - Cosemans argues that economising on the quality of oil could endanger the transformer’s reliability. Nynas set up its Middle East representative office in Dubai eight years ago. Since then, the company has established a strong presence in the region’s transformer oil market riding on its successful track record with major European transformer manufacturers like ABB, Siemens and Alstom Grid.

Market rules

The Middle East market is dominated by minerals oils of the paraffinic type thanks to the region’s ample reserves of paraffinic crude. However, Nynas supplies naphthenic oils originally sourced from Latin America and the North Sea. Cosemans elaborated: “The crude oil produced here doesn’t give the optimal transformer oil performance. We compete with paraffinic oils not so much on cost than on viscosity index and oxidation stability that is mainly found only in naphthenic oil. When the transformer gets hot, the

June2012

Hendrik Cosemans, General Manager, Nynas AB Middle East

oil has to circulate very well to give extra cooling. The low viscosity and low viscosity index of naphthenic oils allows good heat transfer which ensures that heat is efficiently removed from the transformer core and windings, very important in the hot climate the GCC endures in summer.” Nynas also produces uninhibited transformer oil which delivers good resistance to oil degradation. The definition of uninhibited oil is any oil processed free of an anti-oxidant (inhibitor) that improves the degree of oxidation. “While adding inhibitor does help control oil degradation, you have to check the inhibitor content because if it diminishes, you have to top it up again,” explained Cosemans. “Our uninhibited products provide good oxidation stability thanks to its natural inhibitors, which contributs to longer transformer life with less maintenance. But we also have a vast range of inhibited transformer oils as this seems to become a trend the industry moves towards." On competition from synthetic oils, Cosemans admits that their major selling point is the very high flash point which at 350°C is more than twice that of mineral oils. However, the fact that they are very expensive has restricted them to small transformers for niche markets like hospitals and schools, where tolerance for risk is very low. “In the case of a fire, even synthetic oil will burn once temperature crosses the fire point; the effect is nastier than that of mineral oil,” cautioned Cosemans. What distinguishes Nynas from traditional oil companies is that it caters to a specialist market where the quality requirements are much higher. Cosemans explained: “We don’t, for example, focus on producing diesel or naphtha and have a side stream from where we can make transformer oil. In fact, our main refinery in Sweden has two special Hydrotreaters to purify naphthenic crude to the maximum extent needed for producing our range of

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June2012

NEWS industrynotes

Transformer Care

“Our oils are designed to last the full life of a transformer – you don’t have to change it in between or regenerate,” speciality oils. We have expertise in logistics, handling, storage and delivery to the customer. Being a Swedish company, we never compromise on quality. Moreover, we also follow the latest standards.” For example, Nytro Libra, which is one of Nynas’ transformer oil branded products, fulfilled the requirements for IEC 60296 Edition 4.0 uninhibited oil in April 2012, at the same time that the revised Standard was released.

Fair comparison

Cosemans argues that comparing premium high refined insulating oils and low refined grades is akin to comparing apples with pears. “Competition is unrealistic because you cannot sell an apple for the price of a pear and vice versa,” he observed. “But if we talk the same language, the same quality standards, then we are definitely very competitive. Moreover, our quality never varies. The product we offer you as a sample is the same we deliver to you in drums, flexi-bags or in bulk.” It is also important to compare the merits of different transformer oils through the lens of total lifecycle cost. “Our oils are designed to last the full life of a transformer – you don’t have to change it in between or regenerate,” claimed Cosemans. Utilities in the UAE and more recently in Kuwait have started to specify high quality insulating oil as a requisite for delivery. Cosemans said: “In Kuwait, several distribution transformers blew up because of very bad insulating oil. So they have started demanding high quality oils.” But he feels utilities would benefit even more by detailing the parameters and standards the oil should meet instead of merely specifying high quality insulating oil that meets ASTM or IEC standards. “When you specify ASTM and/ or IEC, you leave the field wide open for interpretation as ASTM uses different methods. For example, the classification of inhibited and uninhibited oil is different in ASTM than in IEC.”

User education

Educating the end-user about the benefits of its oils is something that Nynas takes very seriously. The company conducts regular technical training seminars for utilities all

June2012

over the region so they can properly instruct the contractors about specific needs for high quality insulating oil. Nynas also organises and participates in seminars, publishes technical papers and participates in trade fairs to spread the message of premium high grades insulating oils. From a best practices perspective, Cosemans noted that customers need to invest in good storage facilities and also equipment to ensure proper drying of the transformer oil. “We guarantee a shelf life of one year in the package, but the oil shouldn’t be kept outside in the blazing sun,” he explained. “We test the product after it is packed into drums or flexi bags for delivery using an independent testing company. However, if the customer doesn’t take sufficient care, something can surely go wrong.” Furthermore, in circumstances where the transformer is subject to overloading, its lifetime will go down. “While we have designed the oil for the life of the transformer, it is important to monitor and analyse the oil periodically so that you know how the condition of the whole system - the transformer, the paper, the oil - is behaving,” said Cosemans. “The oil passes you the information via an oil -analysis so that you can spot the problem coming. In fact, we do some 70 different types of analysis in our labs.”

Future plans

To keep growing with its customers in the region, Nynas is looking at plans to set up a depot in the GCC. “We now have a flawless logistics system where we get the crude from South America or the North Sea, refine it in Sweden, put in tanks in Antwerp, which is our hub and then ship it to here,” explained Cosemans. “My plan is to set up a depot from where I can deliver by truck or even set up a drumming line. The logistics and quality aspect will continue to be a key differentiator for us.” Cosemans credits his team with the headway the company has made into the region’s transformer oil market. “Our team here is also a differentiator. They are proactive and responsive, and share a strongtcommitment with our customers. That’s how you do business – with Dedication." (By Anoop K Menon)

June2012

NEWS industrynotes

Maximum Use

Middle East’s first plant water recycle project on track

Vikrant Sarin, Technology Manager (Industrial Solutions), Aquatech

Kuwait’s EQUATE Petrochemical Company to set a new precedent in the region’s oil & gas industry by reusing treated plant water in its processes.

he Middle East’s first plant water recycle project in Kuwait is expected to commence operations by the end of 2013. This was confirmed by Vikrant Sarin, Technology Manager (Industrial Solutions) of Aquatech, which is providing the designing support for the project. In September 2010, Kuwait’s EQUATE Petrochemical Company had signed a contract with Aquatech for the project, which seeks to reuse plant water in various industrial operations in order to reduce consumption of desalinated water as well as reduce the carbon emissions associated with treating plant water for discharge. The deal is part of a comprehensive environmental project by EQUATE valued at over $11 million. The contract consisted of two stages – a piloting stage followed by full implementation if the pilot proved successful, with the total cost frozen at signing of the deal,” said Sarin, at the sidelines of Global Water Oil & Gas Summit event last month. “They had every reason to be cautious on the re-use front because they produce glycol. Even minute levels of COD, for example, in the water being reused could spoil entire batches. In fact, losing even a day’s worth of production would have entailed huge monetary losses.” During the pilot, the permeate was tested for basic parameters like COD, Conductivity, pH and TSS so that EQUATE’s utility and process engineers could be confident they would get the desired quality of June2012

water back for use in the utility and the process systems. The pilot consisted of Ultrafiltration stage (using UF membranes manufactured by Aquatech) followed by two-stage RO (seawater and brackish water). “The pilot was supposed to give an indication so that the results could be extrapolated to get or predict the performance of the plant in the long run, especially from an operation and maintenance perspective,” said Sarin. “I am happy to say that we managed to deliver the desired results.” Following the successful pilot, EQUATE is now moving forward with full scale implementation. According to information provided on EQUATE’s website, the company’s facilities discharge around 4,800 m3/ day (200m3/hr) of treated wastewater to a seawater cooling tank. Once the Plant Water Recycle Project commences operations, EQUATE hopes to re-use minimum 80% of the treated wastewater in process activities, substituting desalinated water supplied by Kuwait’s Ministry of Water and Electricity (MEW). Part of the wastewater will be used for irrigation purposes. The company hopes to save 245 million gallons of fresh water annually through this project. “The savings are even more substantial if you remove the subsidy element,” noted Sarin. He hopes that the successful commissioning of the EQUATE project will open doors for more similar projects within the region’s oil and gas industry. “Your expenditure may go up by an

additional 15% when you add a third or tertiary step for reusing treated wastewater, but you save a lot on the operational costs front,” noted Sarin. “We had been advocating this concept for the past three to four years in the region, but EQUATE provided us breakthrough.” Aquatech is also executing a similar project in Turkmenistan but with a more pronounced economical angle. Sarin elaborated: “The treated wastewater was to be discharged into a pond five kilometres away from the plant site. But there would have been a disposal problem during the four months of severe winter, when the lake would surely freeze. The other major challenges were the size of the pond itself, the costs of constructing and securing it with liners, the evaporation rate, creation of buffer capacity for the winter months, and the costs of constructing an insulated pipeline with pumping stations from the plant to the pond.” The economical solution was to treat wastewater to a level where it could be re-used within the plant. For this project, though, Aquatech is using its HERO (High Efficiency Reverse Osmosis) technology, which has been designed for purifying difficult-to-treat feed water. “With HERO, the flow back to the pond would be contained to approximately five to six per cent of 120 m3/hour,” explained Sarin. “This implies a significant reduction in overall costs. From an environmental angle, we will be maximising the recovery while minimising the reject.” (By Anoop K Menon)

Success factors

Rajiv Sawhney, MD, Landis+Gyr Middle East shares tips on achieving successful smart metering roll outs

o smart metering system can be successful without the involvement of the consumer,” emphasised Rajiv Sawhney, Managing Director, Landis+Gyr Middle East. “This is even more applicable to the Middle East region where communication to the consumer and the impact on his consumption behaviour is instrumental to reaping the benefits from a smart metering system.” In other words, a smart metering system should benefit not only the utility but also the consumer. "The consumer will support smart metering initiative when they become aware of the benefits and more important, actually start benefiting from it,” said Sawhney, whose company has a 34% market share of the global residential smart meters market and 32% of European residential smart meters market. In his experience, the best way to convince consumers would be to give them access to parts of smart metering data to enable them to take their own decisions and actions regarding consumption behaviour. “Every unit of energy saved, even in a subsidised energy environment, is equivalent to a saving in the cost used to generate that additional amount, not to mention every individual’s responsibility and accountability to Mother Nature,” noted Sawhney. Benefits flowing to utilities include using smart metering data for optimising their internal processes (such as billing, customer relationship), network management (definition of appropriate Time of Use, disconnection/reconnection, loss detection) and utilising better accuracy of measurement using electronic meters. Sawhney pointed out that rather than restricting the discussion to just ‘Smart Meters,’ it is important to consider the solution

itself. A smart metering system, he explained, is not a mere assembly of meters, communication equipments and network, and software; rather, the system has to an “implementable to deliverables, end-to-end, future proof and scalable solution.” End-toend concept allows compatibility and ensures that all required data can be created, collected, managed and used through the system; future-proofing protects the utility’s investment in terms of evolving technologies and future needs, while scalability provides the assurance that the same system will be able to cover the entire growing network. The Landis+Gyr MD then spelt out the future adaptations to be kept in mind when designing a smart metering system: Evolution of communication technologies Demand response to: • Level peaks efficiently and optimise network load • Get customer-driven load control, centrally and locally • Optimise energy sourcing and make the optimal distribution network investment Revenue protection by: • Remotely recognising tampering or power fraud • Limiting power supply/switching it on-off remotely • Improving debt collection • Reducing non-technical losses Integrated multi-energy (electricity, water, gas, district cooling) that will: • Reduce operational costs through a unified process • Substantially reduce communication costs by reading multi-energy forms through one system • Save on hardware costs as only one communication unit is needed

Use of In-home displays to educate and communicate directly with the consumer But what makes or breaks a smart metering project? Deploying proven, already-implemented solutions is always a safe way to increase the chances of success. Yet, developing “the right smart metering model through an initial pilot, validation of results, trials on technologies and levels of interoperability and developing a learning to formulate large scale deployment best practices and its associated challenges” is crucial to the success of any smart metering project. Sawhney listed project management as a crucial success factor because “different communication and information technologies and electronic equipment have to be integrated.” Additionally, installation and commissioning works have to be well-controlled through atomisation to reduce the human errors (for example, with the use of mass-roll-out tools). Sawhney also recommends prequalification of system integrators based on past experience and references. He continued: “Selection of the right system integrator/project implementation alliances should take into consideration software integration competencies in terms of reading and billing software rollout tools, project management, data communications, networking, device installation and commissioning at least on a supervisory basis.” The involvement of the Utilities, who must take ownership of such initiatives by developing a partner approach to whomsoever it deems best suited to implement the project is critical. June2012

industrynotes NEWS

SmartRefresher

FEATURE interview

shorttake

Between desalination and wastewater, which market do you think will grow faster?

Dr Ilham Kadri

Commercial Director, Dow Water & Process Solutions EMEA Could you share with us your perspective of sustainable water treatment?

or me sustainability is about doing more with less, whether it is using less water or energy, seeking better performance, durability or usage of components. In fact, across all the units of Dow Advanced Materials, we are acting on that mantra. In the case of water, you have to appreciate that over the last decade, we have brought down costs of membranes by 50%. As a business unit, we have committed to bring that down by further 25% in terms of the whole life cycle of the system. While desalination is a well established technology, we have really never optimised the operational expenditure or energy consumption part of it. In the Middle East and especially in the Gulf, thermal desalination is huge because energy is cheap. However, if you position the price of oil at $100 a barrel, membrane technologies are much more cost effective. That’s the mindset we are in. At Dow, we believe that this region will move to membrane technologies. That’s one of the reasons why we announced in July last year plans to build our biggest Reverse Osmosis (RO) manufacturing plant outside the US in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

How are you building your innovations closer to your customers?

s I said earlier, our innovation pipeline is built around doing more with less. A key driver of innovation at Dow is lowering the cost of membranes. Even with subsidies, the cost of purified

water is still artificial. We also think that it is important to innovate closer to the market because sea water is not the same all over the world. In the Arabian Gulf, for example, you need high temperature-resistant membranes; the contaminants might be different to those found in other seas. Also, the water quality has to meet different needs or specifications, whether it is drinking water or cooling towers. In fact, we will start testing our membranes in the Arabian Gulf very soon. Currently, we are testing them in the Red Sea with the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Performance matters, but more important is performance specific to water quality and regional needs.

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esalination is well established and will continue to grow in water scarce regions. But taking water from the sea, removing the salt, using it, recuperating the wastewater, treating it and sending it back to the sea, if you see through it, constitutes a real waste of money and energy. At Dow, we believe that wastewater will become the fastest growing market specifically in this region. Though still at infancy stage, it will grow faster and in double digits. Why is that? Again, it is an easy available resource and probably less energy intensive to purify compared to seawater desalination.

Dow Water & Process has been operating in the region for over 20 years now. What have you learned so far and how are you applying them in your business?

here is no doubt that the market is changing. If you look at it, Saudi Arabia was the first to adopt desalination. But they used the best technology at that time, which is thermal, but the future belongs to membranes or hybrids. People are now seeking more and more cost efficient solutions with low environmental footprint; they are asking for desalination powered by renewable energy; they want smaller, customisable systems that provide a quick Return on Investment (ROI) and they want science to provide the breakthroughs that will serve the region. The mindset of policy makers too are changing because this region is using more than four planets, which is clearly unsustainable. Initiatives like MASDAR in Abu Dhabi and the Green Building initiative in Dubai are the harbingers of change. Our generation can make a choice, but the same may not be available for the next generation. That’s why I believe our structure for the region and our commitment to walking the talk – whether it is building a world-scale asset in Saudi Arabia or emphasis on local R&D activity with KAUST (and the biggest testimony for a science-led company is to bring R&D close to the customer) is the way forward. There is no way around that.

June2012

FEATURE interview

ontherecord Sustaining infrastructure Founded in 1984, Bentley is the leading provider of engineering information management software to architects, engineers, geospatial professionals, constructors, and owneroperators. The company’s ‘mission is to empower its users to leverage information modelling through integrated projects for high-performing intelligent infrastructure.’ Malcolm S Walter is the COO and Senior Vice President of Bentley. He joined the company in 1999, and has served in the current position since 2000 with responsibility for Bentley’s global sales and marketing organisations. He spoke to Anoop K Menon on Bentley’s Product evolution, applications for water and power sectors and the link between digital models and sustainability. Could you brief us on Bentley's evolution as a infrastructure software provider? If I go back to when I started with Bentley Systems 13 years ago, we essentially had one Computer Aided Design (CAD) product called MicroStation and went to market through a global group of resellers. Since that period, we have focussed our efforts on providing much more complete solutions to the entire range of infrastructure or built environment, from linear assets like roads, rails, utility networks and communication networks to model-based assets like buildings, bridges, power generation,

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Malcolm S Walter

process manufacturing, and water and wastewater plants. This has been achieved through a combination of products that we have built on our own or acquired. We have gone from a single product company to one with a very broad range of products in its portfolio, many of which are industry leading brands. Today, there are a number of categories where we are number one like structural analysis and bridge design to name a few. Do you have specific solutions for specific industries or are they horizontal solutions that can be used across multiple industries? Depending on the application, the answer can be a yes or a no. Our approach is in terms of asset categories, so if we consider the example of the power sector, we break that into two segments – power generation, and transmission and distribution (T&D). In T&D, we will look at what are the solutions needed, end-to-end, to support an owner who has these assets. Then we will look at our portfolio and see what applications we have that can help that owner. If there are gaps where we don’t have a solution, we can build it, or buy it or integrate with a product or solution in the market which fills that niche beautifully – we don’t have to own it, we simply integrate with it. We take a solution by solution approach. In some cases, the application applies across multiple solutions. In other cases, it is very specific. In fact, we follow

this approach with regard to water sector too, whether it is networks or treatment facilities. What are your specific solutions for water and power? In the area of power distribution, we recently came out with an application for intelligent substation design, which up until then had really been a 2D process. Our solution takes it into a 3D environment which makes it easier to visualise and document substation plans or execute clash detection and clearance checking. Today, substations often have to be fit into fairly tight spaces, which can be challenging from a construction stand point. In addition, the tools that we provide can cut the design time by over 50%, so designers are not only saving a lot of time in design, but also end with something they know is constructible. In water, we have WaterGEMS for doing analysis in water distribution networks; we also have a wonderful product called the Darwin Calibrator which provides a cost-effective way to estimate the location and extent of hidden leakage in underground pipes. It is estimated that globally, 30% of water supply never reaches its intended destination. But if you have a model of your water network, you can simulate a fixed amount of pressure and see how the network should be operating. You can then apply that same pressure through your actual network and see how it is working. If there are gaps, these are more often

Does the Darwin Calibrator integrate with existing systems that utilities may have like data loggers or SCADA networks? Bentley focuses on interoperability, and we recognise that there are industry standards and de facto standards. WaterGEMS specifically works with the ESRI solutions. Water CAD does the same thing, but with MicroStation or AUTOCAD. So we offer two solutions that essentially do water analysis depending on whether you are in the ESRI environment or AUTOCAD and MicroStation environments. In a large project, data is going to be coming from different sources. So we pay very careful attention to interoperability. Are you happy about the level of awareness of your products in this region? This region had gone through a real estate boom and perhaps, at some point, we might argue that some of those projects should have never happened in the first place. What we are observing now is people are talking about projects that are rational and will benefit the region. Of course, we had the Arab Spring which created economic and political instability in parts of the region. But the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) area has largely benefitted – oil prices have remained high, tourism sector is growing, GDP figures have returned to normal and of course, population growth continues unabated. As a result, infrastructure spend is, sort of, back on the table. The focus areas seem to be

power, water and transportation, fundamental sectors that can dramatically help and improve what goes on in the region. What I mean is that before you start building buildings, you need to have water, power and transportation in place. Last year, in Fukushima, we saw a developed country – Japan – overwhelmed by massive devastation. Hypothetically speaking, can infrastructure software solutions that touch multiple facets of the built environment bring things back on track, and if so, how quickly can that be achieved? There are tools that can simulate disasters though one may never be able to simulate the kind of disaster that happened in Fukushima. However, the ability to simulate the impact of a 100 year flood or something similar to that is possible as long as you have the model. This is something that is very useful in terms of future planning, and water and wastewater authorities are already doing such activities to make sure the systems they have in place are going to operate adequately. Coming to Fukushima, we had two users – both are mapping and survey companies – who went in as soon as they could get in there and started mapping the area, creating the routing for disaster relief to come in. This happened almost immediately. In fact, one of them won an award from Bentley for the work they did. Our geospatial tools are great tools that allow you to take photographic images and convert them into models. There is a lot of talk about sustainable infrastructure development in this region. What is your take on the concept? Is the rational approach to real estate and infrastructure development in the aftermath of the bust helping the case? For us sustainability has many meanings. One of the fundamentals of sustainability is that the assets that

are built continue in their purpose for as long as possible. Because of the tremendous amount of investment that has flown into the digital economy (the Internet is pretty much ubiquitous and even parts of the world it didn’t reach, they are now building that out), in cloud computing, and the tremendous advances achieved in both suggests that the types of applications and services that distributed project teams need can be got to those projects no matter where they are. We also have the consumerisation of Information Technology (IT) - today, everyone has got a smart phone and tablets, so much so that we have mobile computing at a level we didn’t know two years ago. Because of this consumerisation, Bentley’s engineering information management tools and desktop applications allow you to have a digital model of your assets that is truly a reflection of the physical as-built. The old process of building infrastructure is one where architects and engineering consultants did a lot of digital work, hit the print button and gave the paper to the contractor, who went and did a lot of work on the same lines. But they also marked up some things that were different, and finally handed the marked up documents to the asset owner. As a result, all the rich digital content stayed behind. Now, because of the advances in the digital world, we can bring that content forward so that as an owner I can have a real digital model of my asset. There are some real advantages to this, the primary one being sustainability because in that environment, a water distribution network or a wastewater treatment plant or any asset for which I have a digital model is going to be much more sustainable. I can simulate that asset’s performance, measure actual performance and then, I have chance to reconcile the difference. I can also use such a model to respond to disasters. June2012

interview FEATURE

than not, caused by leakage. Today, the state-of-the art when it comes to detecting a leak is to wait till it comes up above the ground. What the Darwin Calibrator does is literally run millions of iterations against your model until the shape of the curve starts to approximate what you are actually seeing through your network. It starts to narrow down where you need to go and look for leaks, which I think is a tremendous advantage.

FEATURE coverstory

TurbineTimes

The Golden Age of Gas Turbines The world’s biggest gas turbine manufacturers speak up on how they intend to capitalise on the growing trend of using natural gas for power generation while tackling the challenges this trend portends.

By Anoop K Menon

avourable gas supply availability in coming years is expected to increase electricity generation from natural gas. In fact, gas supply reserves have been revised upwards based on additions from new shale gas reserves identified worldwide and new supply sources of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), unconventional natural gas resources are now estimated to be as large as conventional resources. The IEA believes that the world production of unconventional gas, primarily shale gas, could more than triples between 2010 and 2035 to 1.6 trillion cubic metres provided these resources as accessed in “an environmentally acceptable way.” Natural gas enjoys certain environmental advantages

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over other fossil fuels. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions are minimal, while sulphur oxide (SOx) emissions are non-existent. The only major environmental issue with natural gas combustion is the formation of nitrogen oxides, but turbine manufacturers have reported significant progress in addressing that. Even if renewable energy ramps up its share of the energy mix and by the same token, its emissions credentials, gas-powered power plants will be needed “to compensate for reduced energy production in case the wind is not blowing and/or the sun is not shining.” Also, gas turbine plants have enjoyed lower capital costs compared to coal and nuclear energy. According to a position paper by the European Gas Advocacy Forum,

coverstory FEATURE

currently gas plants are two-to-three and four-to-five times less capital intensive per megawatt than coal and nuclear plants respectively. Offshore wind requires four-to-10 times more capital per megawatt; in the case of solar PV, it is more than three times. Gas turbine (simple and combined cycle) technology has continued to evolve, registering efficiency gains and improvements in installed cost. These factors, combined with a trend towards less-carbon-intensive generation, herald an expanding role for gas turbine-based power plants in the coming years.

MW-H20 emailed a questionnaire to the dominant gas turbine OEMs in the region - GE Energy, Siemens and Alstom. The spokesperson for Siemens is Marcus Brueckner, Senior Vice President, Siemens Energy Fossil Power Generation Middle East, while the Alstom spokesperson is Sylvain Hijazi, Country President, Alstom UAE. (GE Energy was unable to participate in this Q&A due to scheduling issues; however, they have kindly shared a paper on their FlexEfficiency 50 Combined Cycle Power Plant, which we have published in the Features section)

Marcus Brueckner, Senior Vice President, Siemens Energy Fossil Power Generation Middle East

MW-H20: What are the factors driving the growth of gas turbine market globally? How have your gas turbine offerings changed since the late 1990s to reflect these factors? Marcus Brueckner: Increasing energy demand worldwide and rising fuel prices are the main drivers for the gas turbine market. At the same time, efficiency rates of gas turbines are continuously improving and become more and more important, both globally and in the Middle East. At Siemens, we have seen through intensive R&D work and constant innovation increased efficiency rates of all the gas turbines we are offering. A great example being the new SGT-8000H with which we have achieved the world record for efficiency at over 60%. Siemens gas turbines are not only more efficient today but also more reliable and requiring far less maintenance in comparison to models in the 1990s. In fact, the maintenance cycle for our gas turbines has almost doubled between then and today, which ultimately results in maximum cost effectiveness for our customers. June2012

FEATURE coverstory

TurbineTimes

The power plant in Irsching, Bavaria with the Siemens SGT-8000H turbine

Sylvain Hijazi: Gas-based power generation is predicted to be the second fastest growing power source (2.7% average annual growth rate) after renewable energies (2.9% average annual growth rate) as per the International Energy Agency (IEA). Currently there are several factors driving the gas turbine market globally. We would like to point out the following: • Current gas-prices in many regions make energy produced by gas-fired power plants available at competitive prices. • The discovery of shale gas deposits has vastly increased the expected gas reserves and this has been directly responsible for affecting gas prices and demand for gas-fired generation in markets like the US. • Globally, the higher share of wind and solar energy in the energy market makes it necessary to be able to compensate for reduced energy production in case the wind is not blowing and/or the sun is not shining. Gas plants offer the flexibility to serve as back-up generation at very short notice.

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The biggest requirement of gas turbines today is increased flexibility. Most gas-fired combined cycle power plants in the 1990s were operated as base-load plants with very low number of stop/start expectations, whereas today these plants are seeing much greater cycling duty with significantly higher number of stop/starts, often on a daily basis. In the Middle East region, reliability, availability and turn-down capabilities are important for combined cycle power plants used with desalination plants. Alstom large class gas turbines, since their introduction in the 1990s, have been designed to offer the greatest degree of flexibility and turndown. Efficiency is an important factor in all regions, and Alstom continues to develop its GT and CCPP technology to offer higher efficiency and greater flexibility. The latest upgrade of the Alstom GT26 gas turbine is capable of delivering more than 60% net efficiency. In addition, the GT26 in combined cycle can be parked at a very low load of around 20% CCPP load whilst still meeting low emissions. This low load parking capability in-turn offers a standby spinning reserve that allows the plant operator to provide the grid with around 95% of the CCPP’s rated capacity in less than 15 minutes.

coverstory FEATURE

Siemens SGT5-8000H Gas Turbine

MW-H20: With renewable energy playing a key role in future energy mix scenarios, gas-fired power plants are expected to be more flexible than their predecessors, whether it is cycling capability or base load or peaking. How are your gas turbines being designed to meet such flexibility? How is the need flexibility reflected in aspects like fuel, start up, turndown, and other operational requirements? Brueckner: High availability and reliability of power plants, such as combined cycle units, are needed in order to compensate for fluctuating renewable energy. Also, increasing fuel prices require power plants to be operated with more flexibility to adjust to demand swings. At the moment, this is the case especially in Europe; however, we can expect that the flexibility in terms of fast cycling will become more relevant in the Middle East as well. Siemens gas turbines are, as a matter of course, able to operated on base load, but in response to the market demand for more frequent start-ups, we developed FACY (FAst CYcling). The main features of FACY include, for

example, optimised component design and plant operation to reduce material fatigue caused by load cycling, as well as a new start-up sequence, ‘start on the fly’ procedure, to allow a nearly unrestrained ramp-up. In this procedure, the steam turbine is started up in parallel to the gas turbine using the first steam which becomes available after a hot start. Hijazi: Alstom is already offering its KA26 combined cycle products as attractive solutions to customers for the increased demand of flexibility in regards to being able to meet the wide range of operating regimes, ranging from continuous base-load to high cycling. Alstom’s KA26 combined cycle products use Alstom’s advanced-class GT26 gas turbine, which features sequential combustion technology that allows the KA26 plants to deliver outstanding operational flexibility. Since its introduction in the mid-1990s, the KA26 has demonstrated excellent part-load performance characteristics, with the ability to maintain high plant efficiency over a wide load range, thereby offering customers a much better energy saving regardless of load setting. It is the sequential June2012

FEATURE coverstory

TurbineTimes

combustion of the GT26 gas turbine that also enables the KA26 combined cycle plant to be parked at the very low load (below 20%) by way of having only one of the two combustor stages in operation and still complying with strict emission limits. This offers the plant operators a third option (online spinning reserve at very low load) during low demand periods compared with the normal two options of either parking at the more normal higher minimum loads (typically between 40-60% CCPP load, with the heavier energy consumption impact) or shutting down (which has a plant lifetime impact). In case of higher energy demand, the KA26 CCPP can deliver around 95% of the CCPP’s rated capacity in less than 15 minutes to the grid from this low load parking point, thereby further enhancing the plants’ output flexibility. Alstom has also optimised the operation concept of the mentioned CCPP to enable faster start-up capabilities. Thermal and mechanical stress in the steam turbine and in the heat recovery steam generator have been carefully analysed and the results have been included in the simulation of the dynamic behaviour of the plant to achieve an optimum balance between fast start and minimum lifetime impact of the equipment.

MW-H20: Do you have specific offerings to retrofit existing simple and combined cycle gas turbines to bring them up to date to meet the demands of today’s power market? Brueckner: Yes, we do have such offerings. For instance, wet compression modernises the power plants and enables

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higher power output. Consequently, each turbine can generate an additional 25MW and at the same time, reduce the NOx emissions by more than 30% per turbine. For example, Siemens was awarded a contract from the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) for upgrading the productivity of gas turbines at its Jebel Ali G and K Stations. Three SGT4000F and one SGT2000E turbines were upgraded to deliver an additional 25MW and 20MW respectively, using Siemens Wet Compression technology, resulting in substantial reductions in emissions and pollution. The project later won DEWA the Dubai Government Excellence Award. DEWAs experience with the WetC upgrade sums to three SGT4000F and five SGT2000E. Besides, we have employees in the region who work together with customers to develop solutions for the required specification. Hijazi: The upgrading potential, so as to be able to offer our customers retrofit options for improved plant performance and/or increased operational flexibility, is a key element in all of Alstom’s GT development work. Our customers want to ensure they have the best plant performance and/or flexibility regardless of the time juncture, so we do whatever we can in conjunction with our service division to ensure technology advancements can be retrofitted to the maximum extent possible. Alstom has a vast portfolio of upgrade packages for all its gas turbine types. For example, Alstom’s latest GT26 next generation gas turbines feature the latest upgrade package to further increase the competitiveness for power plant operators

MW-H20: With the different expectations that modern gas turbines have to meet, what are the risks of trade-offs, especially on efficiency as well as repair and maintenance? Brueckner: We design power plants from the beginning in such a way that the maintenance or modernisation can be easily done. Unlike in Europe or Asia, in the Middle East we have to consider the dusty desert conditions when designing power plants here, which means the work has to be carried out indoors, whereas the same work can be done outdoors in case of Europe, for example. Sylvain Hijazi, Country President, Alstom UAE.

and can be integrated into simple and combined cycle power plants. Most upgraded components such as the SEV (second stage) combustor or the low pressure (LP) turbine are offered as retrofits to existing GT26 turbines. The upgrades focus on higher performance and reduced lifecycle cost.

MW-H20: Is there a need for fast-start gas turbines in the region? How are your product offerings meeting this need? Brueckner: Fuel efficiency is more relevant for this region than fast start since energy consumption is comparatively more constant here. Besides, most of the power plants in the region are being used for water desalination. In case there is a need for more flexible power plant operations in the future, we have the right solutions and know-how, evident in our work in other countries. For instance, recently we received an order from South Korea for the Andong power plant, which needs to be very flexible in order to respond quickly to market demands – the plant requires around 250 starts per year. The Andong plant is equipped with Siemens SGT-8000H turbine and can be brought up to full load in only 30 minutes, with efficiency levels of over 60% net after six to eight hours shutdown – and this with a starting and operational reliability of over 98%. Hijazi: As combined cycles are called upon to stop and start more frequently, so the need for faster start-up is becoming more and more an important requirement. Alstom has been taking all of its in-house expertise and experience in designing combined cycle power plants and the core

coverstory FEATURE

components (gas turbine, steam turbine, HRSG, generator, DCS) to optimise the CCPP start-up process to enable shorter start-up times, particularly for the most common ‘hot’ starts which typically follow a night-time shutdown. Alstom’s latest KA26 (50 Hz) and KA24 (60 Hz) combined cycle products can be provided with the option for hot starts in less than 30 minutes if required.

Hijazi: One of the primary ways to deliver higher efficiency is to raise the firing temperature in the gas turbine and this is the path being pursued by the new very large gas turbine technologies now being produced. The major challenge to the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) is how to do this and at same time still achieve the expected lifetime and maintenance cost levels expected by the market for such technology. With Alstom’s GT13E2, GT26 and GT24, the performance versus lifetime / maintenance trade-off is well known due to extensive and long-standing operational history. It is this long-standing history that has enabled Alstom to offer customers on all of these three gas turbines the flexibility

Alstom’s GT26 Test Power Plant in Birr, Switzerland

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FEATURE coverstory

TurbineTimes

Alstom’s GT26 based Fujairah power plant in the Emirate of Fujairah

in the modes of operation so as to allow plant operators the choice to select on-line between a ‘performance optimised’ mode, which ensures the plant offers the highest performance with the normal inspection intervals or a ‘maintenance cost optimised’ mode, which offers an extension on the inspection intervals up to 30% but with a reduction in the plant performance. The plant operator can choose to run continuously in both operational modes depending on his market drivers.

MW-H20: What are the technology challenges to driving more efficiency in gas turbines, both simple and combined cycle? Brueckner: Ever since the gas turbine was invented there have been efforts to increase its efficiency. Siemens has long experience in gas turbine technology and has worked hard to achieve groundbreaking innovation. With the new SGT-8000H machine we have achieved the world’s record in efficiency, at over 60%, as proven in the Irshing power plant in Germany. This top-notch performance is made possible by the perfect interaction between innovative gas turbine technology and the key components of the overall plant, which are optimised for high temperatures and pressure. Our trail-blazing power plant, with this gas turbine in the highest efficiency class, ably demonstrates that climate protection and low-cost power generation using fossil fuels can go hand in hand. The new generation of our combined-

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cycle power plants, for example, consumes one-third less natural gas per kilowatt-hour generated than the average for combined-cycle plants currently installed worldwide. At the same time, CO2 emissions also drop by a third. Hijazi: The challenge facing the OEMs in the drive for higher efficiency is how to ensure keeping the very low levels of emissions and component lifetime versus the need to raise the firing temperature in the gas turbines as well as minimise leakages. This means intensive research and development in the area of the blade and vane materials and thermal barrier coatings as well as engine cooling. For the combined cycles, the increased firing temperatures and raised exhaust conditions of the gas turbines impacts the design of the water/steam cycle from the HRSG onwards, including the design temperatures and pressures for the high-pressure steam piping circuit, with particular attention having to be made to the selection of the piping materials, keeping in mind the need for high allround operational flexibility. HP-steam temperatures of 600°C and above are now being considered, which forces the need to go with more exotic piping materials. Alstom is looking at the performance increases to be gained from these higher design parameters, but has for its latest GT26 and GT24 upgrades focused on achieving higher overall plant performance keeping the CCPP design parameters still at the more conventional steam levels, typically in the order of 570-580°C.

LeadingEdge

gasturbine FEATURE

Package deal

The FlexEfficiency 50 Combined Cycle Power Plant from GE enables fuel economy and quick response to grid demands.

ntil now, power plants had a choice: They could maximise the efficient use of their fuel to create energy, or they could adjust to fluctuating grid conditions by generating more or less power as needed. Today, GE offers these capabilities in a package deal. With more than 61% base load efficiency, a 510 MW rating, and a ramp-up rate exceeding 50 MW per minute —double the industry standard — the FlexEfficiency 50 Combined Cycle Power Plant from GE makes that either-or choice obsolete. This latest innovation in gas turbine technology yields substantial energy savings and greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions, making it the cleanest-burning, most cost-efficient GE solution yet for natural gas power plants. But it also has the operational flexibility to compensate for intermittencies in wind and solar power generation by stepping up production when those renewable resources aren’t available, and scaling back down when they are. The result is the cost-effectively balanced integration of these fuel sources and natural gas into the grid.

Four advanced components under Integrated Control

The flexibility and efficiency marriage happens through a unified plant design in which a Mark*Vle Integrated Control System links together four critical advanced technologies — the next-generation 9FB gas turbine, a 109D-14 steam turbine, a W28 generator, and a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). Start reliability of the FlexEfficiency 50 exceeds 98%, and start-up flexibility

is extensive, with customers having four start options that allow them to make a fast, profitable response to shifting regulatory and power demands and competitive pressures. The design is a space-saver as well, with a 10% smaller footprint than any other combined-cycle power plants that have the same output. At the core of the plant is the newest version of GE’s 9FB gas turbine. This heat- and electricity-generating heart of the FlexEfficiency 50 improves on the efficiency and output of its predecessor to lower fuel consumption and emissions on a MW/hr basis. A Dry Low NOx 2.6+ combustion system holds down GHG discharges, and because the 9FB is quick to start up — in less than 30 minutes for hot starts — and change loads, and can operate at low loads, it gives utilities the flexibility to be acutely sensitive to changing grid conditions. The turbine’s 50 Hz power frequency is the standard used by most of the world too. Waste heat from the 9FB yields the steam, which the 109D-14 steam turbine converts into more electricity for the grid. That enhances the power plant’s efficiency even more, as does the W28 generator that’s placed between the gas and steam turbine. At a 0.9 power factor, the generator has an overall efficiency that exceeds 99%. Besides contributing to the energy cost savings produced by the combined-cycle system — its automatic damper closes to prevent heat from escaping during a plant shutdown — the HRSG adds another dimension to the system’s flexibility, since its stack height can be customized to fit plant site needs. June2012

FEATURE gasturbines

LeadingEdge

Proof is in the numbers

Statistics prove the FlexEfficiency 50’s value. Besides the already mentioned base load efficiency and ramp rate, the plant also achieves more than 60% efficiency down to 87% load and a 40% turndown without compromising on its assured emissions protection. That turndown feature lets power producers conserve fuel when electricity prices lag behind the marginal cost of generation. As a facilitator of optimised renewable energy production, the plant integrates with a concentrated solar power field to create greater than 70% efficiency. The following numbers show how the FlexEfficiency 50 saves money and resources and produces greener energy. They are typical of a plant that adjusts its output to fit grid demands: Annual savings of about $2.6 million for a common annual operating profile of 4,500 hours, with natural gas costing about $10 per million British thermal units (Btu) Natural gas savings of 6.4 million cubic meters per year – the equivalent of what is consumed each year by more than 4,000 European Union (EU) households Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions reduced by more than 12,700 metric tonnes per year — the equivalent of having 6,400 fewer cars on EU roads — and annual NOx emissions avoidance of 10 metric tonnes Energy generation to power more than 600,000 EU homes Since an independent third party has verified this data, the FlexEfficiency plant has been ecomagination-certified by GE as a product with significant, proven economic and environmental benefits.

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The FlexEfficiency Definition

GE hasn’t just designed FlexEfficiency, it’s also defined it in a simple formula: profitable annual MWhrs divided by annual fuel consumption. The formula gives customers a tool to evaluate how much fuel they use each year over variable operating conditions. In this way, they can see exactly what their real-world plant operations will cost them in fuel. When this calculation accounts for 250 starts per year and a blend of base load, part load and minimum turndown hours at an advanced combined cycle plant, it typically yields a 54% FlexEfficiency rating.If the same parameters apply when part load efficiency tops 60% down to 87% of base load, the rating is higher than 58%. What the equation doesn’t measure is the unlimited potential that the FlexEfficiency 50 has for creating an energy future with an optimally diversified, highly efficient and environmentally sound mix of renewable and fossil fuel power generation. (Adapted from the article ‘Get More with FlexEfficiency’ from November 2011 issue of EMPOWER ME, an internal publication of GE Energy Middle East)

insight

MI offers wastewater internship

asdar Institute of Science and Technology’s six week summer internship programme starting in July offers biological wastewater treatment processes as a project option. Titled ‘Phylogenetics for Mixed Microbial Cultures,’ the project seeks to determine the community profile that involves the field of phylogenetics. In phylogenetics, a particular evolutionary gene marker is analysed from a DNA sample that has been extracted from a mixed microbial community. The marker typically examined for prokaryotes (single-celled organisms) is the gene for the 16s ribosomal RNA (16s rRNA), which is considered to be unique for every known species. Separating the different 16s rRNA genes for a DNA sample from a mixed culture of microorganisms helps to determine the population make-up of the sample. Mixed-culture biological processes, such as bioremediation, biomineralisation, and wastewater treatment often rely on cumulative metabolic pathways of a community of organisms to achieve their goals. Disruption in the makeup of the community through toxic shock or other environmental stressors can affect the performance of the overall process. Hence, it is essential to know the identity of the types of organisms present in a mixed-culture biological process.

The project is targeted at graduates and senior-level undergraduate students majoring in Biochemistry, Microbiology, Cell/Molecular Biology, General Biology, Biotechnology, Biochemical Engineering. Student interns will be tasked with learning and performing phylogenetic techniques like polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). They will also be asked to assist Research Engineer in the analysis of experimental samples and review environmental micro- and molecularbiology literature. Dr Farrukh Ahmad, Associate Professor, Water and Environmental Engineering, Masdar Institute, said: “Microbial community analysis in water using phylogenetics and other molecular biology tools can tell us the effectiveness of biological wastewater treatment processes, and can also help in pathogen detection in reclaimed water. We are offering this project as part of the summer internship so that students understand the DNA structure of biological processes and find effective means of finding a solution. Dr Ahmad holds a PhD in Environmental Engineering from Rice University, US, and undergraduate degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He has to his credit several publications in peer-reviewed journals as well as in refereed conference proceedings. Other projects that are being offered for internship include ‘Development of Advanced AmineBased Solvents for CO2 PostCombustion Capture’, ‘MATLAB Simulation Development for Power Grid Systems Simulations and Applications Designed Filters for Applications in Solar Cells’, ‘Solar Cell Technologies and Applications for Desalination and Renewable Energy’, and ‘Cost Comparisons of Renewable and Fossil Fuel Technologies’.

Vibration replaces batteries

he freight train races through the landscape at high speed, the train cars clattering along the tracks. The cars are rudely shaken, back and forth. The rougher the tracks, the more severe the shaking – but this vibration delivers enough energy to charge small electronic equipment: this is how the sensors that monitor temperatures in refrigerator cars, or GPS receivers, can receive the current they need to run. Experts refer to this underlying technology as ‘energy harvesting’ where energy is derived from everyday sources such as temperature or pressure differences, air currents, mechanical movements or vibrations. But is this sufficient to power the electronic microsystems? The answer is provided by a data logger that is also installed on board, a product by the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits of Germany. This compact system analyses and characterises the potential of usable energy – in this case, the oscillations created during the ride. It measures key parameters of the source of the vibrations, such as the amplitude and the frequency spectrum of acceleration. “We can use the data collected to design vibration converters, such as the piezoelectric generators, to feed the sensors, radio transmission receivers, tracking systems and other low-powerconsuming devices with enough energy to power them,“ explained the IIS group manager and engineer, Dr Peter Spies. “The tracking systems in use to date run on just a battery. These batteries need constant replacement, but that involves a lot of effort and expense. Thanks to energy harvesting, we can replace the batteries and wiring.” The energy “harvested“ can be used for a great many other applications as well – to charge heart-rate monitors, sensors in June2012

thehub FEATURE

Farrukh Ahmad, Associate Professor, Water and Environmental Engineering, Masdar Institute

Researchers attaching a data logger to a shipping container. (Copyright: Fraunhofer IIS)

insight

FEATURE thehub

Creating perfect artificial photosynthesis

washing machines and production plants, or measurement systems in cars to measure the air pressure in tyres. The elements of the data logger include an acceleration sensor, a GPS module, a microcontroller, an SD card and a WiFi interface. The sensor measures the freight train‘s acceleration along three axes. At the same time, the GPS module determines the vehicle‘s position and stores the data along with the acceleration values on the SD card. These parameters can be used to pinpoint the train‘s speed and the amount of energy available to it. “That way, we can fine-tune the energy converter and tailor it to the application involved,” said Dr Spies. The data logger is already in use in freight cars, trucks and machinery. Spies and his team are currently working to develop a complete tracking system that includes not only a GSM module and a GPS receiver but also a vibration converter that turns mechanical energy into electrical energy.

PV solar may face tough competition from dyesensitised solar cells

Solar power to dye for

esearchers at the University of Turku believe that flexible, lightweight and inexpensive dyes could be used to harvest the power of the sun rather than our relying on costly and fragile semiconductor solar panel that use crystalline silicon.

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Writing in the International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management in May, Jongyun Moon and colleagues Aulis Tuominen and Arho Suominen, explain that dyesensitised solar cells (DSCs) are set to become a ubiquitous source of energy without the complex and expensive clean-room manufacturing processes associated with current solar panels. They point out that the rapid increase in research into novel solar energy conversion technology looks set to revolutionise the industry making electricity generation accessible to all without government or other subsidies. Solar power is an essential part of the green energy mix, but adoption has been limited in many parts of the world where government subsidies and financial incentives have not been in place. However, as part of a sustainable approach to electricity generation, it offers a clear view of a future in which domestic supply relies less and less on grid power systems or else provide a localised grid for remote places, particularly in sunny climes. Photovoltaic solar cells based on poly-crystalline silicon are the most commonly used devices, having first been used as space satellite technology back in the 1950s and 1960s. In a DSC, sunlight hits a layer of the white pigment titanium dioxide, the solar energy absorbed then sucks electrons from dye molecules in a layer beneath this coating, thus generating a flow of electrons and producing a current. However, Moon and colleagues suggest that despite the maturity of the silicon technology, DSCs could ultimately displace it simply because they are easier and cheaper to manufacture. That said, current DSCs are less efficient than silicon devices and so much development work remains to be undertaken over the coming years.

Imitating photosynthesis

esearchers from the Department of Chemistry at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden, have managed to construct a molecular catalyser that can oxidise water to oxygen very rapidly at speeds similar to those is nature’s own photosynthesis, which is also a world record. Researchers all over the world, including the US, Japan, and the EU, have been focusing for more than 30 years on refining an artificial form of photosynthesis. “Speed has been the main problem, the bottleneck, when it comes to creating perfect artificial photosynthesis,” says Licheng Sun, professor of organic chemistry at KTH. The speed with which natural photosynthesis does its job is given as 100 to 400 turnovers per seconds. The researchers at KTH have reached over 300 turnovers per seconds with their artificial photosynthesis. “This is clearly a world record, and a breakthrough regarding a molecular catalyser in artificial photosynthesis,” said Sun. “This speed makes it possible in the future to create large-scale facilities for producing hydrogen in the Sahara, where there’s an abundance of sunshine. Or to attain much more efficient solar energy conversion to electricity, combining this with traditional solar cells, than is possible today.” The advances with the rapid molecular catalysers can lay the groundwork for many important changes. On the one hand, they make it possible to use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into various fuels, such as methanol. On the other hand, the technology can be created to convert solar energy directly into hydrogen.

GCC water sector The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s water sector is moving steadily towards sustainability and environmentfriendly technologies.

ocus on improving the water supply is constantly at the forefront of the policy-making process in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The demand for water is increasing rapidly. However; the economic slowdown has reduced the influx of expat population in the region, which has slightly reduced the demand for water as well. Bulk of the water usage in the region is in the agricultural sector for irrigation use as depicted in Chart 1, and a large portion of this demand is met by desalination, which is an expensive option for Governments in the GCC.

Agricultural use of Water in the GCC countries as Percentage of Total Consumption, 2012

Under the current economic environment, policy makers are trying to identify and implement less capital intensive options to meet this demand, like recycling and reuse of water for non-potable purposes, such as irrigation. Additionally, the desirability of desalination plants is shrinking due to rising oil prices thereby increasing the cost stress on a water supply process that consumes large amounts of energy. The Middle East alone has over 60% of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s total desalination plants and a major reason for this is low-cost energy, which is due to energy subsidies. Another key trend is the penetration of membrane desalination in the GCC market. Acceptance of membrane-based desalination technology is only going to increase as large number of integrated water and power projects are being launched in the region. Key technologies and processes that will drive the market for water and wastewater segment and the revenues for manufacturers and equipment manufacturers are listed in Table 1.

Key Technologies in the Water Market

Key Drivers for Growth

The water and wastewater treatment market is impacted by various market forces, amongst them the most influencing factors are: Increase in the demand for water: Most countries in the GCC have experienced or are undergoing rapid urbanisation. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait are actively developing their infrastructure and moving towards smart cities. Increase in population is only one of the aspects of this growth, which will eventually lead to higher water demand. Currently, most countries in the GCC have higher per capita water demand as compared to that of developed countries.

sectorreport FEATURE

Green focus

Inevitable rise in water tariff: Except Oman, all other countries in the GCC have very low and subsidised water rates, this is an unsustainable trend for Governments in the region, since a large amount of water requirement is met through an energy and cost-intensive desalination process. The water tariff is expected to go up and match prices in developed countries. This increase in water tariff makes it more lucrative for the private players to develop water treatment projects through Public Private Partnerships (PPP). Extreme burden on the environment: A large amount of wastewater from the GCC is only treated to the secondary level and then discharged into the sea. Many municipal authorities in the region have embarked on plans to reduce their carbon footprint, and are now moving towards reducing water pollution and meeting standards that are followed in developed countries. Countries like Qatar, the United Arab Emirates June2012

FEATURE sectorreport

GCC water sector (UAE), and Saudi Arabia have set up ambitious goals under their national policies to develop infrastructure, which will comply with global standards of water pollution. Market dynamics and sector outlook Overall, the global desalination capacity is expected to grow from 70 million m3/day at the beginning of 2011 to 130 million m3/day by the end of 2016, of this 50% of the capacity addition will be contributed by the GCC region. The market for water and wastewater equipment and services is expected to grow at Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of seven per cent per annum from 2012 to 2017 in the GCC. Desalination provides two-thirds or more of the potable water used in the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain and will continue to play a huge role in the GCC water development efforts. Appropriate technology needs to be used to cater to water demand for various end-user sectors. Significant demand for irrigation can be met through treated wastewater, as more than 75% of water consumption is in the agricultural sector. Chart 2 shows the sector-wise water usage pattern in the GCC for 2012.

reused wastewater (which is sufficient for irrigation but not for public use) is larger than the potential for desalination. A massive growth opportunity exists in the GCC for water and wastewater treatment equipment. Wastewater treatment and desalination plants are seeing a big boom in the GCC - an annual average increase of six per cent is expected in the demand for water. Competitive analysis The water market in the GCC is intensely competitive with over 100 participants, making it a price-sensitive market for less complex technologies. On the other hand, complex equipment with stringent quality requirements such as membrane technologies has much lower competition, since a few global players dominate the market. On the Engineering, Construction and Procurement (EPC) business side, large companies like Metito, Veolia, ACWA, WETICO, Aquatech International, and Eagle Electromechanical hold a combined share of more than 50% of the overall market. The intensity of completion is expected to increase with multiple Asian water technology companies venturing into the GCC market.

Conclusion The GCC is expected to provide many opportunities to private players in the water and wastewater sector through various PPP models, since Government investments alone may not suffice. Moreover, since the focus on green projects is also expected to intensify for infrastructure development, smart cities, and technology trends, global players will have enough space to highlight their abilities and technologies. Water requirement of all three sectors: agriculture, domestic and industrial in the GCC, is set to grow from 35.0 billion m3 in 2010 to 49.0 m3 by 2020.

Water Usage Pattern in the GCC, 2012

The desalination process also discharges salt back into the Arabian Gulf and other oceanic sources, jeopardising their marine life and introducing new environmental risks. On a per capita basis, Saudi Arabia and the UAE consume 91% and 83% more water than the global average, and about six times more water than the United Kingdom. Governments in the GCC are also working towards reducing use of groundwater and water from desalination plants for irrigation. Hence, the potential for lower quality

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The sewage collection rate in the region is 52% of the total sewage generated; however, contribution of recycled water to total water withdrawal is between four and eight per cent. Increased focus on wastewater treatment, water distribution, and coverage will drive investments in the next five to seven years. Desalination has been the key to overcome water shortages in the region. However, there would now be more focus on environment-friendly technologies with increased emphasis on wastewater recycling and reuse concepts. (Courtesy: Environmental and Building Technologies Practice, Frost & Sullivan. For more information, e-mail: deepshrii@frost.com/tanuc@frost.com)

energyworld energystorage FEATURE

Storing renewable energy The conversion of green power into storable methane is a promising option when renewable energy cannot deliver during calm spells or in the hours of darkness.

esearchers all over the world have a goal: They want to develop storage media that allow complete global supply using renewable energies. Power plants that generate storable methane gas using solar and wind power and convert this back into electricity when required could bring us closer to achieving this goal. Scientists from the Reiner Lemoine Institute (Reiner Lemoine Institut, RLI), the University of Kassel, the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy Systems Technology (Fraunhofer-Institut für Windenergie und Energiesystemtechnik, IWES) and the companies Q-Cells and Solarfuel have shown in a study titled ‘Hybrid solar-wind-methane power plants as the cornerstone of global energy supply’ (Hybride Sonne-WindMethan-Kraftwerke als Eckpfeiler der globalen Energieversorgung) that with further technical progress and at locations abundant in sun and wind, these power plants will be able to supply power to fossil fuel plants competitively, i.e., for less than 10 euro cents per kilowatt hour, by as early as 2020. “With a crude oil price of 150 dollars a barrel, this

technology could be the cheapest form of power generation for 90% of the world population in about 10 years,” explained managing director of RLI Christian Breyer. The idea is simple: Solar power and wind power are dependent upon the weather as well as the time of day and year, meaning that availability fluctuates. In order to avoid fossil fuel power plants jumping in as soon as the demand exceeds the supply of green electricity, the renewable energies must be combined with storage media such as methane. The IWES, Solarfuel and the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (Zentrum für Sonnenenergie- und WasserstoffForschung, ZSW) have developed a special process for this called “power-to-gas”: Whenever solar parks are producing an excess of electricity, for example, this is diverted to electrolysis units. There, the power splits water into oxygen and hydrogen. In a second step, the hydrogen is combined with carbon dioxide in order to create methane, the main component of natural gas. This can be stored in the natural gas network to the desired extent and

is used to supply heating systems, power plants and filling stations. “Enormous storage capacities are available to green energy. Therefore, we tend not to need as many new high voltage lines,” said Breyer.

An alternative to network expansion

There is also no need for large power plants to store energy using methane, noted Stefan Rieke from Solarfuel. “It works best with decentralised units with outputs of 20 to 30 MW.” Even the German federal government is pinning its hopes on power-to-gas.” Researchers are giving some impetus to the matter: The IWES, Solarfuel and the ZSW are already building their second test facility with an output of 250 kilowatts in Stuttgart. It has been constructed in such a way that it can be run by a biogas unit. This provides the power as well as the carbon dioxide required for the conversion of the hydrogen into methane. The results will be integrated into the even bigger ‘e-gas project’ run by Audi. By 2013, Solarfuel will have erected the first industrial-scale facility for the car manufacturer, featuring an June2012

FEATURE energystorage

energyworld

Lower quantities of stored energy are required to balance supply and demand at solar-wind-methane power plants

output of six MW. However, according to the hybrid power plant study, full supply using renewable energies can be achieved most cost-effectively by means of a combination of solar and wind power. In most regions on earth, sun and wind complement one another more or less perfectly. “There are very few network-essential overlaps in electricity production,” said Breyer. For this reason, it tends to be the case that lower quantities of stored energy are required to balance supply and demand at solar-windmethane power plants than when only one of the two primary renewable energy sources is used. Solar and wind technology are also a good choice because they feature a high degree of potential for cost reduction. Eicke Weber, head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer-Institut für Solare Energiesysteme, ISE) in Freiburg believes that solar power costs could halve by 2020 thanks to more efficient cells and better production. In the case of production equipment, improved automation and standardisation in particular mean that suppliers can achieve considerable savings, said Eric Maiser, managing director for the photovoltaic production material division of the German

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Engineering Foundation, the VDMA. Nevertheless, combination power plants also have their drawbacks. It would appear that the problem lies with efficiency, as losses add up throughout the steps of the power-togas process. When the green power is stored via gas and converted back into electricity, a total of two thirds of the energy is lost. The sourcing of the carbon dioxide required for conversion into methane could also represent a stumbling block. In the case of the Audi project, it is drawn from a biogas facility in a climate-neutral way, but if carbon dioxide from coal power plants needs to be used in future projects, this could damage the technology’s green image. For this reason, some experts believe other storage media such as hydrogen, which is an energy source itself, to be more practical. “This means that the resource-intensive methane conversion is missed out of the power-to-gas process,” said Christopher Hebling, head of the energy technology division at the ISE, in Düsseldorf. He explained that the hydrogen can also be stored in the natural gas network or in large underground caverns. “Such caverns offer enormous storage potential and can be filled over many years,” said

Hebling. Other alternatives are large battery parks, compressed air power plants or pump storage power plants. These pump water into a tank located higher up. As it flows away via downpipes, turbines generate electricity. Proponents of the power-togas technology do not see the degree of efficiency and the carbon dioxide sourcing as a critical factor, however. “Without storage media, excess green power would go unused,” argued Breyer. He claimed that the carbon dioxide required for conversion into methane can also be obtained cleanly and ecologically by means of air filtering. In addition, he asserted that other storage media also carry uncertainties: Hydrogen can only be mixed into the natural gas in the network in small quantities up to five per cent, meaning that its suitability as a storage medium is limited. Pump storage power plants, on the other hand, can only be implemented in mountainous regions: “Germany does not meet the geographical requirements,” said Breyer. The race to find the best storage concept is on. (Courtesy: Energy Storage International Summit for the Storage of Renewable Energies)

flipside

oel Prathab D’Souza comes across as an ordinary human being, but probe a bit and what one discovers is an amazing inner strength of character. Coaxed to recount the tale of how he survived a horrific plane crash two years ago, Joel describes the sequence of events, his demeanour mostly calm and composed, with no hint of the trauma of survival. The only time a flicker of uneasiness showed up on his face during the conversation was when we asked him about travelling by plane. When reminded him about his visa change flight back to India, the uneasiness resurfaces. Joel was one of the eight survivors from the 166 passengers on the ill-fated Air India Express Flight IX 812 from Dubai to Mangalore, which crashed moments after landing on 22nd May, 2010. He was returning to Mangalore after a successful job interview with the cable manufacturer DUCAB. “Everything happened in seconds,” recounts Joel. “I was flying back to Mangalore to complete some formalities before taking up my new job. The plane had just landed, there was a loud bang and it veered off the runway. As the aircraft started to break up, I managed to escape through a wide crack.” Stories of his survival and selflessness have been recounted umpteen times in newspapers back home in India. “Six of us managed to escape the burning aircraft through that crack,” continued Joel. “We picked out a way out of the surrounding steep jungle to a road where I put five of the survivors in a car and send them to the hospital. I hitched a ride on a motorcycle to the airport where my parents and relatives had come to receive me.” Though Joel hadn’t realised then, he

Destined for DUCAB How Joel Prathab D’Souza reclaimed his destiny had fractured his leg and sprained his spine during the escape (after being caught up in a stampede of his cosurvivors fleeing the aircraft), which necessitated a long bed rest. Tongue in cheek, he added that despite the doctors’ recommendation to stay put in the hospital for five months, he opted to go home after a month because “the media people were always irritating me.” Despite his near-death experience, Joel continued to nurse dreams of returning to Dubai to work but was struggling to overcome his newly developed fear of flying. However, at the insistence of his sister and brother, both of whom were settled in Dubai, Joel decided to bite the bullet and seek his destiny in the city of dreams. “I took the same flight from Mangalore to Dubai. I was very scared, but thankfully, two of my friends were travelling with me.” Even after he landed a job in Dubai, Joel was keen to reclaim his original job with DUCAB. Carl Mascarenhas, Technical Trainer, Human Resources Department, DUCAB said: “Joel contacted us, introduced himself and said he wanted to join us if we had an opening. We immediately asked him to come on board. We were glad that he still wanted to join the company.” Mascarenhas told Joel that DUCAB was willing to give him the same position he was offered in 2010, but if he had something else in mind, the company was open to considering that too. “Joel told us that since he was trained as a machinist, he would like to take up a similar job in DUCAB. To his luck, there was a vacancy for a machinist in our Abu Dhabi plant, which we offered him,” said Mascarenhas. Joel admits that his parents were very scared when he initially told

them about going back to Dubai. “My parents, especially my mother, didn’t want me to go to Dubai. However, my sister gave the courage. Now that I have joined DUCAB, my folks back home are happy.” Mascarenhas continued: “I feel that Joel is a true hero because even after saving himself, he showed tremendous restraint and selflessness by putting the interests of other survivors before him, making sure they got to a hospital first. These qualities were appreciated by us. The fact that he chose to come back to Dubai despite the trauma and wanted to join us indicates his strong mental makeup. We feel lucky to get him back because someone weaker could have simply thought the opposite DUCAB is unlucky for me. Since he thinks of us in a positive way, we decided to respond in kind. In fact, we are proud and honoured to have him here.” Having secured his dream job in his dream company, Joel is making plans for the future. “I am only 26 years old,” he says with a smile. “I would like to settle down, but only after two to three years.” His biggest passion is cricket, with Bangalore and Delhi IPL teams being his favourites. Mascarenhas is confident that with Joel now becoming a part of the DUCAB family, the trauma of the crash will soon become a distant memory. He said: “We have 20 nationalities working with the company. We have six nationalities in the factory staff, with the majority from India and the Philippines. They all are thrilled that he is joining us.” After all, DUCAB and Dubai has always been Joel’s destiny.

cabletalk FEATURE

(L to R) Carl Mascarenhas, Technical Trainer, Human Resources Department, DUCAB, Joel Prathab D’Souza, Michel Bekhazi, Human Resources Manager, DUCAB

(By Anoop K Menon) June2012

TEST measurement

electricalreview

Oil testing FAQ Insulation oils need to be tested regularly to ensure that their dielectric strength does not deteriorate. Paul Swinerd, Product Portfolio Manager, Megger lists the key testing standards and addresses the ‘what, who, why and when’ of insulation oil testing.

ils that combine a high flashpoint with high dielectric strength have long been used as an insulating medium in transformers and other electrical apparatus. To ensure that the dielectric strength of the insulating oil does not deteriorate, however, proper maintenance is essential, and the basis of proper maintenance is testing. There are many test standards for insulating liquids, but in reality these are all derivatives of three main standards. Two of these are from ASTM International (USA) and the other is from the IEC (Europe). These main standards are: • ASTM D877 – Standard Test Method for Dielectric Breakdown Voltage of Insulating Liquids Using Disk Electrodes. • ASTM D1816 - Standard Test Method for Dielectric Breakdown Voltage of Insulating Oils of Petroleum Origin Using VDE Electrodes. • IEC 60156 - Insulating Liquids –Determination of the breakdown voltage at power frequencies – Test method. Chart 1(next page) is not exhaustive, but it shows the main differences between the ASTM and IEC standards.

June2012

The ASTM D877 standard ASTM D877 is an older standard, and is generally not very sensitive to the presence of moisture. For that reason it is not widely used for in-service applications. In fact when, in 2002, the IEEE revised C51.106, Guide for the Acceptance and Maintenance of Insulating Oil in Equipment, the values from D877 were removed from their criteria for evaluating in-service oil in transformers. Generally ASTM 877 is recommended only for acceptance testing of new oil received from a supplier in either bulk loads or containers to ensure the oil was correctly stored and transported. Typically a minimum breakdown value of 30 kV is specified. The ASTM D877 standard specifies the use of disc shape electrodes that are 25.4 mm (1 inch) is diameter and at least 3.18 mm (0.125 inch) thick. These electrodes are made of polished brass and are mounted to have parallel faces, and horizontally in line in the test vessel. The edges are specified to be sharp with no more than a 0.254 mm (0.010 inch) radius. The sharp edges should be regularly inspected to ensure that they have not become too rounded. Excessively rounded edges will have the effect of falsely raising the breakdown voltage, possibly passing oil that should have failed the test. It is also very important that the

The ASTM D1816 standard ASTM D1816 has become widely used over the years, even being used outside the standardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stated application of petroleum origin insulating oils and viscosity limits. D1816 is more sensitive than D877 to moisture, oil aging and oxidisation, and is more affected by the presence of particles in the oil. When the IEEE revised C51.106 in 2002, breakdown voltage limits for new and in-service oil using D1816 were added. ASTM D1816 specifies the use of mushroomshaped electrodes 36 mm in diameter. As with D877, the electrodes are made of brass must be polished to be free of any slight etching, scratching, pitting, or carbon accumulation. The oil is stirred throughout the test sequence, and a two-bladed motor-driven impeller is specified. The standard prescribes the impeller dimensions and pitch as well as the operating speed, which must be between 200 rpm and 300 rpm. To prevent air coming into contact with the circulating oil, the test vessel must have a cover or baffle. The D1816 standard, although generally accepted as more useful than D877, has got one significant limitation: when testing in-service oil this test method is very sensitive to dissolved gases. Excessive amounts of gas in the oil can lower the test results to the point that a perfectly good sample of oil, with low moisture and particle content, will fail the test. It is important to bear this in mind when testing small gas blanketed transformers and even in some cases, free-breathing transformers. The IEC 60156 standard IEC 60156 is an international standard that appears in many forms as IEC member national committees from

various countries adopt it. Examples are British Standard BS EN 60156 and German VDE 0370 part 5. IEC 60156 uses mushroom electrodes the same those used in the ASTM D1816 standard. The IEC standard differs in a number of ways from D1816, but the main difference is the IEC standard allows the optional use of a stirring impeller or the use of a magnetic bead stirrer or no stirring at all. In fact the standard states that differences between tests with or without stirring have not been found statistically significant. The use of a magnetic stirrer is however, only permitted when there is no risk of removing magnetic particles. The dielectric breakdown values from the IEC 60156 method are usually higher than those from the ASTM methods. Possibly this is at least in part because of the differences in voltage ramp up speed and electrode gap compared with D1816, and electrode shape compared with D877. (The IEC electrode shape provides a more uniform electric field). The result is that for well maintained

measurement TEST

electrodes are kept very clean, with no pits or signs of corrosion, otherwise breakdown values can be falsely low. Lab technicians should regularly inspect electrodes, cleaning and polishing as required.

Table 1 Main differences between the ASTM and IEC standards.

June2012

TEST measurement

electricalreview

A properly designed pouring lip on the vessel helps keep spills to a minimum

transformers the breakdown voltages may be higher than a 60 kV test instrument can reach. This is may not be a problem when evaluating new oil from a supplier or even for in-service oil, but often an actual breakdown voltage value is required. When testing to IEC 60156, therefore, the use of an instrument capable of applying a higher voltage is advisable. As with D1816, dissolved gas in the oil sample may reduce breakdown values but the effect is much less with the IEC 60156 standard. What methods are there for testing oil? For in-service equipment in particular, there are many oil testing techniques available. If dissolved gas analysis is excluded, these techniques can be divided into two basic groups. The first group includes tests concerned with the immediate condition and acceptability of the insulation in an item of electrical equipment. This group includes dielectric breakdown voltage testing, moisture measurement by the Karl Fischer method, and determination of insulation condition by measuring dielectric dissipation factor. The second group includes tests that look at the degree of degradation and aging of the equipment’s insulation system. These tests include interfacial tension, acidity (neutralisation value), resistivity and visual evaluation of appearance of the oil. All of these tests are useful in particular circumstances, but the most convenient and most universally applicable is dielectric breakdown voltage testing, and this has been selected as the main subject for this series of articles. What is oil dielectric breakdown voltage testing? A dielectric breakdown voltage test is a measure of the electrical stress that insulating oil can withstand without breakdown. The test is performed using a test vessel with two electrodes that have a gap between them. A sample of oil is put into the vessel and an ac voltage applied to the electrodes. This voltage is increased until the oil breaks down - that is, until a spark passes between the electrodes. The test voltage is then turned off. The voltage at which breakdown occurred is the test result, and is typically evaluated by comparing it with guidelines set out in various standards, or in the oil manufacturer’s specifications. The exact test procedure is determined by the standard being

June2012

used, which typically defines parameters like the size and shape of the electrodes, the gap between them, the rate at which the test voltage is increased, how many times the test is repeated and whether or not the oil is stirred during the test. Who needs to perform dielectric breakdown voltage tests? Many types of organisation benefit from carrying out tests on transformer oil, including: • • • • • •

Utility contractors (principally in substations) Utility companies (principally in power stations) Rail companies (locomotive HV step-down transformers and switchgear) Oil test laboratories (providing testing services) Transformer and switchgear manufacturers (quality control of oil) Oil companies (testing new oil during manufacture)

Which types of insulating oil can be tested? While the generic term “oil” is almost universally used to describe insulating fluids, there are actually five types of insulating fluid currently in common use: • Mineral oil High molecular weight hydrocarbon (HMWH) fluids • Silicone fluids • Synthetic ester fluids • Natural ester (vegetable oil) fluids. All of these can be tested for dielectric breakdown voltage. Mineral oil is the most common and has been in use since the late 19th century. Mineral oils are refined from either naphthenic crude or, more recently, from paraffinic crude. HWMH, silicon, synthetic ester and natural ester fluids are more recent developments and are often preferred because they are ‘less flammable’ than mineral oil. ASTM D5222 specifies that, for insulating fluids to qualify as ‘less flammable’ they must have a fire point of at least 300 ºC. The five fluids differ significantly in the way they react to moisture. Mineral

EQUIPMENT

FLUID TYPE

TESTED WITH MEGGER OT RANGE?

PXE

YES

Various types

YES

Synthetic aromatic hydrocarbons Capacitors Aromatic esters New

Synthetic Hydrocarbons

Polybutenes

YES

Old

Mineral Oil

Various types

YES

Bushings

Mineral Oil

Various types

YES

Oil filled circuit breakers

Mineral Oil

Various types

YES

Mineral Oil

Shell Diala AX

YES

Perfluorocarbon (PFC)

3M PF 5060

YES

measurement TEST

EXAMPLE/SUB TYPE

MV & HV Cables

Transformers

High molecular weight mineral oil Silicone Low flammabilSynthetic hydrocarbons ity fluids Synthetic polyol esters Vegtable oils - natural ester Hydrofluorocarbon PCB's Polychlorinated biphenyls Old Fluids Tetrachloroethylene/ Perchloroethylene ( PCE) Gases Sulphur Hexafluoride Old Gases

LTC (Load Tap Changers)

Dow Corning 561 polyalphaolefinÂ (PAO)Â Envirotemp 200 Envirotemp FR3 Vertrel VX Askarel, Pyranol, Phenochlor Askarel (contained 50%) Wecosol SF6

YES YES YES YES YES No - hazardous requires special handling No - hazardous requires special handling No

Freon R -113

Vapotrans

Mineral Oil

Various types

Yes Table 2 The types of insulating fluid used in various applications.

oil is least satisfactory; even small amounts of water significantly reduce its breakdown voltage. Silicone fluid is also affected by small amounts of moisture, whereas ester fluids can typically maintain a breakdown voltage greater than 30 kV with more than 400 ppm water content. This is one reason that esters last longer in service. Although not exhaustive, Table 2 gives a good indication of the types of insulating fluid used in various applications. It also shows which fluids can be tested with Megger OTS test sets. Why and when is breakdown testing performed? Dielectric breakdown testing is a relatively quick and easy way of determining the amount of contamination in insulating oil. Commonly the contaminant is water,

but it can also be conductive particles, dirt, debris, insulating particles and the by-products of oil oxidation and aging. For in-service equipment, the dielectric breakdown voltage test offers a convenient way of detecting oil problems before they lead to a catastrophic failure. Information from the testing can also be used as an aid to Predicting the remaining life of a transformer Enhancing operational safety Preventing equipment fires Maintaining reliability Dielectric breakdown voltage testing is also carried out on new oil before it is used to fill equipment, and for acceptance testing of new and reprocessed oil. How often should oil be tested? Dielectric breakdown voltage testing is an important element in the maintenance programme of any item of oil-insulated electrical equipment.

To get the maximum benefit from this testing, the oil should be tested at least once or preferably twice a year. The results should be recorded, as trending the data makes it easier to spot unexpected changes. If a sudden change is found, the transformer can be inspected for leaks, the oil level can be checked and the water content of the oil evaluated. If contamination is confirmed, it will often be possible to recondition the oil by drying and filtering it, rather than having to replace it with expensive new oil. Having explained in this article why oil needs to be tested and provided some basic information on how it is tested, the next article in this series will provide practical advice on various aspects of testing including taking oil samples, and the cleaning and storage of test vessels. June2012

tenders&projects PROCUREMENT updates

Project Number Project Name Salalah IWPP 2 Territory Oman Client Oman Power & Water Procurement

Description

Period Status Remarks

Tender Categories Tender Products

Company S.A.O.C Address: Muscat International Centre, 2nd Floor, Suite 504 City: Ruwi PC 112 Postal/Zip Code: 1388 Country: Oman Tel: (+968) 2482 3028 / 2482 3000 E-mail: ahmed.busaidi@omanpwp.com Website: http://www.omanpwp.co.om Construction of an independent water and power project (IWPP) with capacity of 250 MW of power and 10 million imperial gallons a day (MIGD) of desalinated water in Salalah. 2016 New Tender This project is in Oman. Purpose of the project is to meet increasing demand for power and potable water in the region. Six bids have been submitted bids for the Financial Advisory and Commercial Services on this scheme. Prospective bidders include: UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers; local KPMG Oman and Oman Arab Bank. A number of leading international companies are also lining up to bid for a pair of similar mandates to provide Technical and Legal Advisory Services, which are due in by June 16, 2012. Client is planning to complete its appointment of an advisory team - consisting of a Financial and Commercial Services Adviser, Technical Adviser and Legal Adviser - by end of June 2012. The next immediate goal for the off-taker is to have the project tender documents ready for submission to the Tender Board before the end of this year. The final configuration of this plant will be decided once studies aimed at arriving at an optimum capacity for the power generation and water desalination components are completed. Water Works Power Plants & Alternative Energy Independent Water & Power Plants (IWPP)

Project Number 56/2012-O/3 Project Name Primary Substation Construction

Project-8 Territory Oman Client Oman Tourism Development Company S.A.O.C (Omran)

June2012

Description Tender Cost Closing Status Remarks

Tender Categories Tender Products Project Number Project Name Territory Client

Description Tender Cost Closing Status Remarks

City: Muttrah PC 114, Postal/Zip Code: 479 Country: Oman Tel: (+968) 2477 3700 Fax: (+968) 2479 3929 E-mail: enquiries@omran.om Website: http://www.omran.om Construction of 3x20MVA, 33/11kV primary substation for Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre Project - Package 5.2. 2,975 July 16, 2012 New Tender Tender No. 56/2012 This project is in Oman. This tender is open to companies Specialized in Electrical works and registered with the Tender Board & DCRP with relevant grade. Tender documents can be obtained from: Tender Board Al-Khuwair, Oman. Last date to purchase tender document is June 20, 2012. Tender opening date will be on July 16, 2012. Power Plants & Alternative Energy Substations / Spare Parts / O&M Substations Construction RFX 2131200055 Switching Station Construction Project-1 Dubai Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) Address: Head Office, Near Wafi Shopping Mall, Zabeel East City: Dubai Postal/Zip Code: 564 Country: United Arab Emirates Tel: (+971-4) 324 4444 Fax: (+971-4) 324 8111 E-mail: contracts@dewa.gov.ae Website: http://www.dewa.gov.ae Construction of 33kV switching station for a 10 MW solar power plant. 275 June 14, 2012 New Tender Tender No. RFX 2131200055 This project is at Ghadeer Barashy in Dubai. The tender cost is payable in cash or on-line through the website http://www.dewa.gov.ae under the title e-services. Tenders must be valid for acceptance for 120 days from the closing date. The Master Tender Document must be accompanied by a Tender Bond for an amount not less than 5%

June2012

PROCUREMENT updates

tenders&projects of the total tender price and valid for 150 days from the tender closing date. Completed sealed tender documents should be addressed to:The Chairman, Board of Directors, Dubai Electricity & Water Authority and deposited into the Tender Box at Authority's Head Office near Wafi Shopping Mall in Zabeel East, Dubai. Participants in the tender should submit the names of their Local Partners/ Sponsors, having a valid Dubai Trade Licence along with a photocopy of their current licence. For any further queries, the office of Contracts Manager may be contacted. Tender Categories Power Plants & Alternative Energy Tender Products Substations Construction

Project Number Project Name Territory Client

Description Tender Cost Closing Status Remarks

June2012

BOM-4120000015 Gas Turbine Power Generation Units Sale Dubai Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) Address: Head Office, Near Wafi Shopping Mall, Zabeel East City: Dubai Postal/Zip Code: 564 Country: United Arab Emirates Tel: (+971-4) 324 4444 Fax: (+971-4) 324 8111 E-mail: contracts@dewa.gov.ae Website: http://www.dewa.gov.ae Sale of gas turbine power generation units at C Station. 275 July 1, 2012 New Tender Tender No. BOM-4120000015 This tender calls for sale of gas turbine power generation units in Dubai. The tender cost is payable in cash or on-line through the website http://www.dewa. gov.ae under the title e-services. The sale tender must be valid for acceptance for 120 days from the closing date. The Master Sale Tender Document must be accompanied by a Tender Bond for an amount not less than 5% of the total tender price and valid for 150 days from the tender closing date. Completed sealed sale tender documents should be addressed to:The Chairman, Board of Directors,Dubai Electricity & Water Authorityand deposited into the Tender Opening Room at Authority's Head Office near Wafi Shopping Mall in Zabeel East,

Dubai. Participants in the tender should submit the names of their Local Partners/ Sponsors, having a valid Dubai Trade Licence along with a photocopy of their current licence. For any further queries, the office of Contracts Manager may be contacted. Tender Categories Power Plants & Alternative Energy Tender Products Turbines & Spares

Project Number 2700/503-SA Project Name Power Transformers Testing Services Teritory Saudi Arabia Client Saline Water Conversion Corporation -

SWCC (Saudi Arabia) City: Riyadh 11691 Postal/Zip Code: 85369 Country: Saudi Arabia Tel: (+966-1) 463 1111/ 463 4546/ 463 0503 Fax: (+966-1) 464 3235/465 0852 E-mail: info@swcc.gov.sa Website: http://www.swcc.gov.sa Description Carrying out internal testing and examination for (30 Nos.) power transformers for a water conversion corporation. Tender Cost 135 Closing July 11, 2012 Status New Tender Remarks Tender No. 2700/503 This tender service is in Saudi Arabia. Tender documents can be obtained from: Procurement Department, Saline Water Conversion Corporation Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Tender result date will be on July 11, 2012. Tender Categories Power Plants & Alternative Energy Tender Products Electrical Materials (All Types) / Works & Services Transformers & Spares (All Types)

Product Number 8/2012-O/8 Product Name Consultancy Services-1510 Teritory Oman Client Oman Power & Water Procurement

middleeasttenders.com +971 2 634 8495

Tender Categories Tender Products

Product Number 503/2700-SA Product Name Transformers Inspection & Overhaul Teritory Client

Description Tender Cost

Services Saudi Arabia Saline Water Conversion Corporation SWCC (Saudi Arabia) City: Riyadh 11691 Postal/Zip Code: 85369 Country: Saudi Arabia Tel: (+966-1) 463 1111/ 463 4546/ 463 0503 Fax: (+966-1) 464 3235/465 0852 E-mail: info@swcc.gov.sa Website: http://www.swcc.gov.sa Carrying out comprehensive inspection and overhauling of (30) transformers for Haql Duba Ummlujj plants. 135

Closing Date July 11, 2012 Status New Tender Remarks Tender No. 503/2700

This tender service is in Saudi Arabia. Tender documents can be obtained from: Saline Water Conversion Corporation Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.Tender opening date is on July 11, 2012. Tender Categories Power Plants & Alternative Energy Tender Products Inspection Services Overhaul/Maintenance Services

Project Number JB/GI/286-SA Project Name Cathodic Protection System Life Teritory Client

Descriiption Tender Cost Closing Date Remarks

Tender Categories Tender Products

Extension & Upgrade Works Saudi Arabia Saline Water Conversion Corporation SWCC (Saudi Arabia) City: Riyadh 11691 Postal/Zip Code: 85369 Country: Saudi Arabia Tel: (+966-1) 463 1111/ 463 4546/ 463 0503 Fax: (+966-1) 464 3235/465 0852 E-mail: info@swcc.gov.sa Website: http://www.swcc.gov.sa Carrying out life extension and upgrading of existing cathodic protection system in the desalination plant at Jubail. 135 July 14, 2012 New Tender Tender No. JB/GI/286 This tender service is in Saudi Arabia. Tender documents can be obtained from: Saline Water Conversion Corporation Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Tender result date is on July 14, 2012. Power Plants & Alternative Energy Water Works Modification, Repair & Refurbishing Services Water Desalination Plants

updates PROCUREMENT

Tender Cost Closing Date Status

to the future expiration of Power (and Water) Purchase Agreements for a power & water procurement company. 645 June 10, 2012 New Tender Tender No. 8/2012 This tender service is in Oman. Over the coming years, the long-term power (and water) purchase agreements associated with a number of existing Independent Power Projects (IPPs) and Independent Water & Power Projects (IWPPs) are due to expire. OPWP, as the counter-party to these agreements and the entity with responsibility for ensuring the continued availability of adequate power and water production capacity. This tender is open to Specialised Consultancy companies. Tender documents can be obtained from: Oman Power & Water Procurement Company Ruwi, Oman. Tel: (+968) 2450 8400 Fax: (+968) 2458 7337. Last date to purchase tender document is May 21, 2012. A bank guarantee of 1% of the bid value valid for 90 days from the closing date addressed to H.E The Chairman of the Internal Tender Committee, Oman Power & Water Procurement Company Azaiba Plaza, 2nd Floor, Offices No. 21 & 22, Building No. 187, Al Maarud Street, Oman should be submitted before 11:00 am on the closing date. Power Plants & Alternative Energy Water Works Consultancy Services

Project Number Project Name Teritory Client

MPP1965-SA Shuqaiq Thermal Power Plant Project Saudi Arabia Saudi Electricity Company - Western Region (Saudi Arabia) City: Jeddah 21430 Postal/Zip Code: 9299 Country: Saudi Arabia Tel: (+966-2) 650 0005 Fax: (+966-2) 653 4139 Website: http://www.se.com.sa Description Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to build a

June2012

tenders&projects thermal power plant in Shuqaiq with capacity of 2,400 MW. New Tender This project is in Saudi Arabia. Client is planning to invite expression of interest (EoI) by the end of May 2012. Bids will then be invited for the EPC contract. Power Plants & Alternative Energy Power Generation Plants

PROCUREMENT updates

Status Remarks

Tender Categories Tender Products

The developers will carryout site tests for the projects. This may take one or two years to complete. Selected projects will be built as independent power projects (IPPs) under build-own-operate contracts with the private companies owning 100% of the assets. Client intends to repeat direct proposals scheme several times annually or biennially. Tender Categories Power Plants & Alternative Energy Tender Photovoltaic Plants Products Power Generation Plants Solar Energy

Project Number MPP2644-J Project Name Renewable Power Projects

Implementation Jordan Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources (Jordan) Address: Jebel Amman, 7th Circle City: Amman Postal/Zip Code: 140027 Country: Jordan Tel: (+962-6) 586 3326 Fax: (+962-6) 586 5714 E-mail: memr@amra.nic.gov.jo Implementation of renewable power projects with capacity of 700MW. New Tender This project is in Jordan. It is understood that (63) companies and groups have been responded to the Expressions of Interest (EoIs) invited in May 2012. Client will sign memorandums of understanding (MoU) with each company before asking them to submit detailed proposals. Short listed companies for the projects are as follows;

Teritory Client

Description Status Remarks

Project Number GTC/488/2012-Q Project Name Substations Construction Project -

Photovoltaic Solar Projects:

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Local Kawar Consortium - 50MW Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power - 10MW Greece’s SunEdison Hellas - 20MW Local Shamsuna Power Company - 10MW Portugal’s Martifer - 10MW UK’s Zouk Solar Opportunities - 10MW UK’s Kinetics / US’ Marquis / Australia’s Infinite Technologies-10MW Local Jordanian American Renewable Energy Company - 20MW US’ Sithe Global - 20MW US’ Southern Sun Consortium - 20MW Spain’s Ennera - 10MW Spain’s’ Guascor Solar - 5MW US’ Clean Energy Concepts - 10MW UAE’s Enviromena Power Systems - 10MW Norway’s Scatec Solar - 10MW.

Concentrated Photovoltaic Solar Projects:

• Canada’s Bright Power Group - 10MW • Australia’s Greenland Altumhelu Energy Solar- 10MW.

Concentrated Solar Power Projects: • • • • •

June2012

Spain’s Abengoa Solar - 25MW Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation - 50MW Local EJRE Projects - 50-125MW US’ Evolution Solar - 50MW Local Catalyst Private Equity Solar - 50MW.

Qatar Power Transmission System Expansion - Phase 11 (Stage 1) Teritory Qatar Client Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa) Address: Corniche Street, Dafna Area City: Doha Postal/Zip Code: 41 Country: Qatar Tel: (+974) 4484 5484/ 4484 5555 Fax: (+974) 4484 5496 E-mail: kmcontact@km.com.qa Website: http://www.kahramaa.com.qa Description Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to build substations, as part of the Qatar Power Transmission System expansion - Phase 11 Stage 1. Tender Cost 4,125 Closing Date July 19, 2012 Status New Tender Remarks Tender No. GTC/488/2012 This project is in Qatar. The EPC contract is for establishment of substations, refurbishment and upgrading of existing substations (total No. 20 s/s) on different voltage levels varies from 220kV to 66kV. The project is divided into 5 packages and the bidders encourage to quote for more than one package. Tender documents can be obtained from: Electricity Project Department, Technical Affairs, Floor No. 13, Kahramaa Building No. 2, Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa) Dafna, Qatar. Tel: (+974) 4484 5555. Offers should be submitted with a bank guarantee issued by a Qatari Bank or by a bank operating in Qatar, valid for (150) days.

Project Number GTC/450/2011-Q Project Name EHV Power Cables Project - Qatar Power Teritory Client

Description

Tender Cost Closing Date Status Remarks

Transmission System Expansion - Phase 11 (Stage 1) Qatar Name: Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa) Address: Corniche Street, Dafna Area City: Doha Postal/Zip Code: 41 Country: Qatar Tel: (+974) 4484 5484/ 4484 5555 Fax: (+974) 4484 5496 E-mail: kmcontact@km.com.qa Website: http://www.kahramaa.com.qa Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the installation of extra high-voltage (EHV) cables, as part of the Qatar Power Transmission System expansion - Phase 11 - Stage 1. 4,125 July 12, 2012 New Tender Tender No. GTC/450/2011 This project is in Qatar. The EPC contract consist of underground EHV power cables laying in various routes on different voltage levels varies from 220kV to 66kV. The project is divided into five packages and the bidders encourage to quote for more than one package. Tender documents can be obtained from: Electricity Project Department, Technical Affairs,

Floor No. 13, Kahramaa Building No. 2, Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa) Dafna, Qatar. Tel: (+974) 4484 5555. Offers should be submitted with a bank guarantee issued by a Qatari Bank or by a bank operating in Qatar, valid for (150) days. Companies, which wish to participate in this tender, should submit the following documents: 1) Copy of Commercial License 2) Mandate copy from the Company 3) Valid ID card 4) Company Stamp. Quotations should be submitted in sealed envelopes addressed to Secretary, General Tenders Committee. The closing date and the tender number should be clearly written on the envelope. Completed tenders should be submitted at the 5th Floor, General Tenders Committee, Building No. 1, Dafna. Bid bonds for Package 1 is QR 1,500,000, for packages 2 & 4 is QR 2,500,000 each and for packages 3 and 5 is QR 4,000,000 each. Offer should be valid for (120) days from the closing date. Tender Categories Power Plants & Alternative Energy Tender Products Electric Power Transmission & Distribution

updates PROCUREMENT

Companies, which wish to participate in this tender, should submit the following documents:(1) Copy of Commercial License (2) Mandate copy from the Company (3) Valid ID card (4) Company Stamp.Quotations should be submitted in sealed envelopes addressed to Secretary, General Tenders Committee. The closing date and the tender number should be clearly written on the envelope. Completed tenders should be submitted at the 5th Floor, General Tenders Committee, Building No. 1, Dafna. Bid bonds for Packages 1,2 and 3 is QR 8,000,000 each, for packages 4 & 5 is QR 6,000,000 each and QR 200,000 for telecom package. Offer should be valid for (120) days from the closing date. Tender Categories Power Plants & Alternative Energy Tender Products Substations Construction

CLASSIFIED

ADS Rates: (9x6cm) 3 issues: $500/issue 6 issues: $400/issue 12 issues: $300/issue

FREE ONLINE LISTING on 6 issues and above bookings!

h2ome.net/megawhatme.com For more information, please contact

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June2012

calendar2012 EVENTS calendar

27-28 JUNE

Dubai

The Libya Infrastructure & Rebuild Conference

The event will provide a major showcase of various industry expertise reflecting the importance of the vital sectors to Libya’s economy by bringing together, production, service and supply companies from the world’s leading technology companies. Visitors will include Libyan government officials and private sector planners, procurement officials, engineers of all disciplines, global specialist contractors, consultants and trading agents. Over 150 delegates from Canada, China, Germany, Egypt, Italy, UAE, UK, GCC, Middle East, US and other countries, will be participating in the event, which has been endorsed by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The two-day event organised by Arabian Reach, will take place at the Al Bustan Rotana Hotel.

Contact: Arabian Reach Tel: 971 4 447 2811 Fax: 971 4 447 2810 E-mail: info@arabianreach.com URL: www.arabianreach.com

17-20 SEPTEMBER Energy Iraq 2012

June2012

Singapore

Singapore International Water Week 2012 Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) has emerged as a global platform for the sharing and co-creation of innovative water solutions. The event’s flagship programmes comprise Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize; Water Leaders Summit; Water Convention; Water Expo and Business Forums. The 2012 theme is ‘Water Solutions for Liveable and Sustainable Cities.’ The event is being held in conjunction with the Third World Cities Summit and the inaugural CleanEnviro Singapore. Last year, some 13,500 participants from 99 countries/regions attended the event while 600 companies participated in the conference. The total value of announcements for projects awarded, tenders, investments and R&D MOUs reached S$2.9 billion.

Contact: Maurice Neo Tel : +65 6731 3191 Fax : +65 6731 3055 Email : info@siww.com.sg URL: www.siww.com.sg

Erbil

The 2012 edition of the show will gather a larger number of exhibitors from around the world to showcase a comprehensive range of electricity, alternative energies, lighting, water technology and HVAC products and solutions in a more segmented format. The exhibition will be held concurrently with Project Iraq 2012, the 5th International Exhibition for Construction and Environmental Technology, Materials & Equipment which welcomed in 2011 close to 400 exhibitors from 20 countries. The event will take place at Erbil International Fair Ground in Erbil, Kurdistan Region.

Contact: IFP Iraq Tel: +961 5 959111 Fax: +961 5 959888 E-mail: info@elenex-iraq.com URL: www.elenex-iraq.com

1-5 JULY

8-10 october

Abu Dhabi

Power + Water Middle East 2012 Power + Water Middle East 2012, held in partnership with Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (ADWEA), co-located with INTERMAT Middle East 2012 and with ADCCI as a strategic partner, is a premier event for showcasing power and water related products and services. It provides a platform for professionals from these industries to interact with a number of the world’s leading companies and organisations. Sectors represented in the exhibition include Power Generation, Transmission & Distribution, Automation & Controls, Research & Technology, Energy Efficiency, Water & Waste Water Treatment, Water Management & Distribution, Instrumentation & Process Control and Water Conservation. 2011 highlights included 3,500+ registered visitors, 52 visitor countries, 121 exhibiting companies and 26 exhibiting countries.

Contact: Latha Ravi Tel: 971 4 4072611 Fax: 971 4 335 3526 E-mail: latha.balasubramanian@informa.com