The UK's largest Coal-fired Generator picks Capula
01 Feb 2007
Capula Ltd has been awarded a multi million pound contract by Drax Power Limited for the refurbishment of the station control and instrumentation services at Drax Power Station near Selby in North Yorkshire. With six 645 Megawatts (MW) generating units that have the capacity to deliver 3,870MW to the National Grid, Drax is the largest single electricity generator in UK producing around 7% of the total demand.
Covered under the term “station services” are twenty-four systems that control and automate ancillary plant at Drax. These systems are often referred to as “common services” systems as they support all six generating units. Capula will be replacing a number of legacy systems including the water treatment plant system; a team of between eighteen and twenty-two professional staff will work on the project from December 2006 until March 2008.
Commenting on the good news Capula's Power Generation Business Development Manager Phil Willett said:
“ I am delighted to have been awarded this contract which is part of the major mid-life refit for control and instrumentation at Drax Power Station. We have already completed refurbishment work on five of the six generating units, with this common services contract and the contract for the refit of the sixth unit in 2008 Capula will have fully modernised generating plant control systems at Drax Power Station by the end of 2008.
“Adding to the complexity of the common services element of the project is the fact that this work will be completed without an outage; the project will run and be commissioned while the station is still generating electricity.
“We have a close working relationship with Drax Power and have worked closely with them during the tendering phase. Engineers from Drax Power will be involved in the design and commissioning stages of the project. I am confident that as with all other major refurbishment projects on large coal-fired power stations Capula will successfully complete this work, to budget and within the agreed timescales.”
Peter Emery, Production Director at Drax Power said:
“We are pleased to be working with Capula on this major refurbishment project. The successful implementation and delivery of this project will demand good communication and teamwork between the personnel of both Drax and Capula, not to mention significant technical competence. That winning formula has been already demonstrated over the last two years and we look forward to building on that experience during the next two.
“Once completed, the enhanced quality of operator control over our six generating units will help us to optimise the operation of our plant and effectively manage our emissions performance – something that is a priority for us.”
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